


Something Old, Something New

by InfamousPlayer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF FRIDAY, BAMF Tony Stark, But Definitely Not Anti Accords, But at least they realize it, Carol Danvers & Tony Stark Friendship, Civil War Team Iron Man, Extremis Tony Stark, Hope Van Dyne & Tony Stark Friendship, I mostly tried to keep them in the sidelines, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Not Exactly Pro Accords, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Team Cap is full of shit, They’re not assholes, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, not totally
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-06-10 20:56:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 59,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19515466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfamousPlayer/pseuds/InfamousPlayer
Summary: Tony has been left broken after the Civil War. He won’t stay broken for long though.





	1. Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever so you guys can judge me if it’s shit. I don’t own any of these characters. All of them belong to Marvel and Disney, and even this fic is heavily inspired by Tony’s Girl, from Crosshairs, and by How to Repair a Broken Heart, from the IfluentialPineapple. Both stories are much better than this one and both writers are amazing, so got check those stories if you haven’t already. Now let’s get this embarrassment for over with.

Tony didn’t know how he got in this situation. Things were fine and then suddenly... they weren’t.

He knew it wasn’t his fault. More importantly, he knew that he definitely shouldn’t blame himself for it. He did anyway.

Because it was the only explanation. It HAD to be his fault. Things wouldn’t have gone south so hard and so fast if it wasn’t because of him. But that’s the exact problem.

He couldn’t find a reason as to why it was his fault. But the vultures certainly did.

‘Mr.Stark! What do you have to say about the Rogues situation?!’

‘Do you think they are coming back?’

‘Have you wondered that it was all your fault?’

The last one stung. So much that he made sure that that reporter would lose a LOT of credibility. Because seriously? How was it his fault?

It was very simple. He wanted accountability, to be held ACCOUNTABLE for his actions. Especially after the disaster that was Sokovia. Rogers didn’t. Tony simply COULDN’T agree with that. He couldn’t continue into a system where he couldn’t be blamed for when people died. That’s exactly why he revealed he was Iron Man to the world. He had just came out of a system that pretty much let him do whatever the fuck he wanted while thousands of people died. He couldn’t get into another one.

And yeah, maybe he let his guilt for Ultron cloud his judgement a little bit, but anyone in his place would have done the exact same thing.

He had taken the full blame for Ultron, never once holding Bruce, and, much more importantly, WANDA, accountable. He never told anyone, not even the team, not even Pepper, what she had shown him.

‘Why didn’t you save us. You could have done more...’

He didn’t exactly know why he never said anything. Maybe it was because he thought he owed her, since it were his weapons that killed her parents. Except it weren’t his weapons. It was another result of Obie screwing his life, even after he had KILLED the bastard.

The bomb that hit Wanda’s home was a copy of his that was sold illegally in the black market. So no, he didn’t owe her anything. And if he did, he sure as hell had already payed that dept.

He had fed her, clothed her, made her a battle suit, and let her live on HIS Compound, and how had she repayed him? By throwing a fit and slamming Vision several floors under? By throwing CARS at him at the airport when all he wanted to do was bring her back to a safe place?

But it’s okay right? He was Tony Stark,  
genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. He didn’t need to be treated like a fucking human being. He could handle it.

‘Hank Pym always said to never trust a Stark.’

Well, you can tell Hank Pym to go fuck himself, Bang. Dang. Whatever the fuck his name was. He was not his father, and he was done proving it to idiots who would never change their minds no matter how hard he fought or how many nukes he flew through wormholes. Speaking of which...

‘Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?’

He was met with nothing more than scoffs and eye rolls. Of course he did. It was just his ego after all. It had nothing to do with what he had seen on the other side of the wormhole, that they were going to come back. That there would be a second invasion and they would not get lucky again when that happened.

Again, he was met with nothing more than scoffs and eye rolls.

Maybe he really was evil. Maybe he was the problem. Because if he wasn’t, why did everyone keep leaving him?

Well, almost everyone at least.

Immediately after he recovered from his injuries- from the beating Rogers gave him- Pepper had came back to his life. She had been there when he woke up. Along with FRIDAY, who was in the Mark 7 suit, one of the only ones that had survived the Mandarin all those years ago, Rhodey, who couldn’t even WALK anymore because of him, who no matter how many times he screwed up, was always by his side, and Vision, the Android that was Jarvis but was not. It wasn’t clear if the being really cared about him since his birth, but the extreme worry on his face that was replaced by sheer relief proved that- no, he was not Jarvis- but he definitely loved him.

But there was something wrong, something was different. He was different. That’s when he realized that they had given him Extremis.

They probably expected him to freak out, to yell at them for making him even remotely close to Rogers, but he didn’t. He just said “ok” and went back to sleep.

The truth is: He wasn’t like Rogers because of Extremis. Not even remotely close. Yes, his physical health was increased tremendously and he was capable of running fifty miles a hour for three hours straight and also was able to lift at least 1.1 tons with one hand and all his senses also appeared to be enhanced. But these were passive abilities from Extremis. The ones he couldn’t erase. It was to be expected from a Super-Serum that was potentially superior to the original.

No. He had fixed Extremis. He had promised Pepper that he would destroy it after he cured her, but his paranoid mind whispered: what if you need it one day? Well, guess he was not so paranoid after all. Because if he hadn’t taken the serum, he wouldn’t have lasted 2 weeks, according to Helen. God bless that woman and her patience. If he were her, he would have snapped at him a long time ago.

God, now that he think of it, Rogers would have killed him. Not that he cared, now that Barnes was safe. Barnes...

Tony was man enough to admit that he shouldn’t have tried to kill him. Not that it was his fault, because seriously, how should he have reacted? He had just found out that his parents “accident” hadn’t been a accident after all. His only comfort in all those years, was that Howard had killed them, that he had killed his mom. That his dad was too drunk to even drive and it cost his mom in the process.

But nope. He was denied even that bit of closure that he had. And he had to find out from the enemy by a fucking traffic recording. And that bastard knew...

‘Don’t bullshit me Rogers! Did. You. Know?’

‘Yes.’

Rogers knew all along. For god knows how long, and he hadn’t told him. All for his precious Barnes. Was he simply too stupid to realize that if he wanted to kill Barnes, he would have already?

He had lost the fight because of that. He wasn’t thinking clearly, and he didn’t really want to kill any of them. If he did, the fight would have lasted seconds before they were reduced to ash by one of his tank missiles, or to two bloody corpses on the ground, severed in twos by lasers. The feeling clearly wasn’t mutual.

And that fucking hypocrite even had the nerve to judge him about Ultron. He looked down on him with all of his self-righteous glory, and said: “Sometimes my teammates don’t tell me things.”

Fuck you, Rogers.

But enough about Rogers. He didn’t have time to care about him now. Or ever. He had washed his hands of all of them. They weren’t his problem anymore. If they tried to do something stupid he would obviously intervene but aside from that... Well. They could go fuck themselves.

Back to the serum; when Tony fixed Pepper, he thought: Why not fix this as well? It sounded stupid, it really did, but it had worked. He had completely eliminated the most critical issue, which would be the part where people were blown to hell.

He also eliminated the “getting hot” part. It really didn’t suit him. He didn’t want to be Captain America, because doing that would be doing what his asshole of a dad wanted, and he would rather die before that happened. So he replaced it for something a little more fun.

Technopathy.

It sounded crazy, and it looked crazy, and it worked crazy, but it definitely worked. He realized that when he woke up the second time. Vision and Pepper were gone this time, leaving only Rhodey and FRIDAY, who appeared to be in rest mode or something like that in the corner of the room, while Rhodey was sleeping in his wheelchair.

‘The wheelchair you put him in...’

Nope, nope! He would not go there, not now, he had more important things to do. Like getting him out of that wheelchair. So he started to work. To say his reaction was hilarious was an understatement.

“FRIDAY? You there, baby girl?” He called, looking at the suit in the corner of the room. His response didn’t come from it, however.

“For you Boss... always.” The Irish voice echoed... inside his HEAD. To say he was startled was, again, an understatement. So he may, or may not, DEFINITELY NOT, have let out a unmanly scream, which he immediately subdued as to not awake Rhodes. The colonel stirred in his wheelchair, but thankfully didn’t wake up.

After calming down, he promptly freaked out again. “FRIDAY, what the hell?! Why are you in my head?!” He whisper-shouted, and he could swear that he could feel her amusement from this situation, again, inside his head.

“There’s nothing wrong Boss, Extremis worked.” The AI said, voice as calm and soothing as ever.

“Extremis worked? What does this has to do with-“ Suddenly, everything clicked.

“I modified the serum so it could give me technopathy...” He whispered, before giggling. “Well, at least something good came out of this shit.” He said in a self deprecating tone, smiling sadly.

“It did.” FRIDAY said, and Tony could literally sense the worry coming out of her. “FRI. I’m okay now. Don’t worry about me. You already did that enough while I was gone.” He soothed, although it did little to calm the young AI.

“I know Boss, it’s just... I almost lost you...” She said, and if Tony didn’t know any better he would say she was crying. Although, maybe she was.

“Come here, baby girl.” He said to the armor this time, and the suit immediately moved, walking closer to the bed and stopping right beside it. He opened his arms, and after some hesitation, the armor HUGGED him.

This is so weird.” He whispered jokingly, still trying to grasp the idea that he was hugging what was basically his daughter through the suit he used to fly a fucking nuke through a wormhole.

“I know, I can’t even feel it.” The AI whispered sadly, through the suit comns this time. That won’t do.

Using Extremis, he found her code pretty easily, since it was already connected to his head, and used his own code to embrace hers in a hug.

She gasped through the comns, trying to identify whatever the hell was hugging her code, before she realized: “Boss, is that you?” She whispered incredulously, almost disbelieving.

“It’s me, baby girl. Don’t worry. I’m not going to leave you again.” He promised, and although he wasn’t sure that he would be able to maintain this promise forever, he would try really damn hard to do so.

FRIDAY’s code loosened up and hugged him back with everything she had, and he gasped, laughing happily. It was a completely new experience, but a really good experience. Being hugged by an AI’s code. God what had his life become...

They let go and the Mark 7 kept staring at him, as if waiting for something. Sure enough, he asked: “What exactly can I do?” He asked hesitantly, slightly afraid of the answer.

The response, however, was anything but bad. “You can control any technology that Extremis can slip through with your mind, that includes computers, cellphones, your suits...” At that, he laughed.

God, I’m almost regretting implanting all those sub-dermal implants inside me, now I can control the suit with my mind. Actually, that gives me an idea...” He trailed off, and FRIDAY immediately picked up. “Let me guess, you want to modify the suit to connect directly into your nervous system so you can control the armor with more freedom than before. Am I right or am I right?” She asked smugly.

Tony smiled fondly. When Bruce went away it really hurt. He was his Science Bro, one of his best friends, and he had left him to deal with the fallout of Ultron alone. Granted, he couldn’t be faulted for the Hulk’s actions, but a part of him wondered what it would have been like if Bruce was here for the Accords.

But he found out that he really liked to discuss science with FRIDAY, she would be a great addition to the Science Bros.

“Already done that, actually the schematics for it. God, this thing is amazing...” He trailed off, using Extremis to make schematics for Mark 47. He needed a new suit right now. He could just use Mark 45 while 46 was being repaired, but he was Tony fucking Stark. Innovate is what he does. Also, he really needed to make a suit that supported Extremis. He could FEEL the technology around him. This was a massive addition and he needed to get to work on it soon.

He had already created a folder called “Mark 47” and copied all the data from the folder “Mark 46” to it. This was simply a dream come true. He wanted to have Technopathy since he found out what it was, and now he was openly using it. He just wished he had gained it under better circumstances.

Unfortunately, that was about as far as he went before someone blocked him. “FRIDAY! C’mon!” He whined, but the AI wasn’t moved. “Sorry Boss. You are forbidden to get into anything related to work for two weeks, Dr. Cho and Boss Lady’s orders.” FRIDAY said with an air of superiority.

“But this isn’t for work, this is for fun.” He said sheepishly. “Sure.” FRIDAY answered drily, and again, he could feel her amusement, but also something like deep worry. That’s what made him give in. He groaned.

“Fucking fine, I will stay isolated from everything important to me for two weeks, oh my God! You guys are a bunch of mother hens. You’re almost as bad as-“ He immediately cut himself off before he realized who he was about to reference.

They stood there in awkward silence for a while, before FRIDAY cut it. “I already uploaded several firewalls and security systems to Extremis, Boss.” She said hesitantly, and he was so glad for the subject change.

“What would I be without you, baby girl?” He said fondly, and he could feel her happiness coming from her code.

“I ask myself the same thing everyday, Boss.” She answered, voice warm and pleased. That’s when the other occupant of the room decided to speak up. “So you can control computers now? My god, this is the end of the world...” A teasing voice said, and they both looked to the sorce of it to see Rhodey looking at them with a warm grin on his face.

“Rhodey-Bear!”

* * *

  
A bunch of explanations later, Rhodey groaned. “So you’re saying that you basically have a computer in your head now? Jesus Tony, where did you get this idea?” The crippled soldier asked incredulously. The genius was sitting by his side. He was still pretty sore, but he could walk with relative ease now.

“First of all, how dare you. Technopathy is the coolest super power ever, thank you very much.” Rhodey rolled his eyes, the grin never leaving his face. “Second, I got the idea from a cartoon a time ago. I just can’t remember which...” He said thoughtfully.

Then, Rhodes decided to bring up a important and concerning point. “How are we going to explain this to the comitee?” He asked worriedly, and Tony’s smile immediately fell from his face.

“Yeah, I forgot about that...” He said hesitantly, and Rhodey immediately knew what was wrong. “Tones, if you think me, or anyone will treat you any differently because you have powers now, you are going to be disappointed.” He said sternly but gently.

Said genius head immediately snapped up to look at him. “What? No. That’s not it at all...” Tony said dismissively. Rhodey just rose one eyebrow at him. “Alright, fine! I’m nervous ok?! It’s just...” He trailed off, and Rhodey just sat there, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“I’ve always been “normal” before. Well, as normal as I get. But now, I can literally bring a plane down, with a THOUGHT. Aren’t you scared of that?” He asked, face showing more fear than he would ever dare to show anyone who wasn’t him, Pepper or FRIDAY.

“Tony, look at me.” He said gently. The genius hesitated before doing just that. “Hell will freeze over, before you scare me, alright?” He said with as much conviction as he could muster. Because it was true. No matter what Tony does or say or the state of his legs, he will ALWAYS be his friend. Speaking of his legs, Tony thought it would be a great idea to bring it up now. He never liked talking about feelings anyway.

“That.” He said decisively, pointing at his wheelchair. “Will have to go.” He said with even more conviction. “Tony...” He started, but got interrupted immediately. “Nu huh huh! The schematics for it are being done as we speak, I just have to- FRIDAY C’MON!” He yelled annoyed, glaring at his suit that was standing beside them.

“Sorry Boss, Boss Lady’s orders.” FRIDAY’s voice sing songed through the suit speakers so Rhodey could also hear what she said. Rhodey snorted and Tony giggled a little, but as soon as he stopped that sulking expression was back on his face.

“138.” He suddenly said, making Tony look at him questioningly. “138 combat missions.” He clarified. “That’s how many I flew Tony. And every each one of them could have been my last. And I always fought because the fight needed to be fought. The same thing with these accords. And yeah man, this sucks, this is... this is a bad beat. But it doesn’t change how I fell.” He finished, and Tony was actually smiling now.

“You improvised that? Or did you have it written somewhere?” He quipped, and Rhodey’s eye roll was legendary. He hid his face in his hands. “Oh my god...” He groaned, and Tony giggled. They sat there in comfortable silence until Rhodey decided to bring up the elephant in the room.

“What about Ross.” He said the name with no small amount of disdain. To his surprise, Tony actually openly smiled. “I don’t think he’s going to be a problem for much longer.” He said confidently. Rhodey just raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question.

This was the guy who built a death machine with a box of scraps in a cave after all.

So, 2 weeks later, Tony was finally liberated- more like expelled, considering how much he annoyed the nurses- from the hospital. He had been practicing with Extremis for these two weeks with FRIDAY, while also strengthening his defenses on the progam, making sure nobody would be able to hack it or slip a virus through it.

So when he arrived at the UN for a hearing about his new... status, and Ross had predictably proposed that them (more like him) experimented on him so they could “be sure that he wasn’t a threat” Tony just said: “Ok.”

Then all hell broke loose.

He used Extremis to turn up a pannel there and started a recording, that looked suspiciously like a security footage. “What are you-“ Ross started, but Tony immediately cut him off. “I’m showing you what I can do.” He said simply, and Ross eyes widened as the security footage started.

In this two weeks, his main toy of pratice for Extremis was Ross. He and FRIDAY, mostly him so he could get used to it, had searched all the dirty secrets that Ross had buried, from illegal transactions in the black market for Chitauri weapons (he would have to look into that later) to literal recordings of his “experiments”.

It wasn’t pretty.

The recording started, and it clearly showed Ross in some kind of experimentation room, with a man tied to a chair and struggling against his restraints, using a collar that looked suspiciously like Wanda’s from when she was imprisioned in the RAFT (was, they had escaped while he was at the hospital, and fucked off to some part of the world. He found out pretty quickly that he didn’t care.)

“What is this?!” One of the members asked horrified, while Ross stood up, seething with anger, but also with panic. “This is- this is fake! He made it up to incriminate me!” The asshole accused desperately, pointing at Tony, who was sitting calmly at his seat with a bored expression on his face.

“Which part of this seems altered to you?” He asked the secretary with a indifferent tone, gesturing at the screen, which now showed Ross openly torturing the man, who could be no more than 20, all of it with a smile on his face. It filled Tony with rage to see that bastard torturing a person like it was a fucking animal, but he also was incredibly proud that he could at least avenge him. That’s what Avengers do after all.

“Very well Mr. Stark, that’s- that’s enough!” One of the members, the representative of Sokovia, asked desperately. He, along with everyone else in the room besides Ross, were close to vomiting. He promptly closed the video.

“YOU BASTARD!” The former Secretary of State yelled with rage in all of his features, leaping foward to attack Tony, but he was prepared. A single blast of his gauntlet threw the man to the other side of the room, completely passed out. He wished he could have killed the guy, but that would be “illegal”.

“Sorry about that.” He said, not feeling sorry at all as his gauntlet retreated to the bracelet on his wrist. Everyone else in the room, besides the representative of Wakanda- Shuri, a beautiful young woman who seemed and was wiser than everyone else in the room- was understandably wary and scared. Tony waited until they had more or less calmed down until he spoke again.

“So, that’s pretty much what I can do.” He resumed, while two security guards grabbed Ross by the arms and unceremoniously dragged him out of the room. Of course he wouldn’t go quietly.

“You’re finished Stark! You’re gonna die! If you think what I did in that video was bad, just you wait until I get my hands on you!” He yelled with so much anger that everyone thought he would have a heart attack, which wouldn’t be unwelcome. They could hear Ross’s screams for a good two minutes before it completely faded out.

Shuri cleaned her throat. “Is there anything else about him that we should know about?” She asked casually, although he could see that she wasn’t unmoved by this situation. Who would be?

“Oh definitely. I already sent to all of you several illegal transactions of illegal accounts to the black market, involving Chitauri weapons, more videos like those, evidence that he was indeed involved in the Abomination fiasco a few years ago, and... well, pretty much everything about the RAFT.” He explained casually, although, in his head, he was doing cartwheels of joy.

“Chitauri weapons?” One of the delegates asked, looking terrified. “Yup. Found plenty of evidence that he bought quite a few of those, using less than legal methods of course.” He said, fighting really hard to not smirk in triumph.

“This is definitely concerning. We assume you will look into it?” Shuri asked, and Tony shrugged. “If you guys don’t mind...” He purposely trailed off, and the representative of Germany immediately answered. “Please do, Mr. Stark. Your opinion is very important for us.” He said honestly, and Tony nodded. That’s what happens when you expose a corrupt politician in front of his colleagues.

“So you can control technology?” The representative from Italy asked shyly, being extremely embarrassed by this situation, along with everyone else in the room. He would be too if he found out that one of the Avengers was a criminal who had extreme pleasure in torturing other people.

“Precisely. I’m connected to the internet constantly, and I can control and feel any tipe of technology that Extremis can slip through.” He explained casually, although he was nervous, because this was extremely similar to-

“Isn’t that exactly what Ultron was?” The representative of Sokovia spat bitterly, and Tony couldn’t even feel offended. This guy had every right to be angry and wary of him after what happened to his country.

Thankfully, the representative from Chile defused the situation before it could escalate. “To be fair, Delegate Suvorov, it’s not exactly the same thing. Ultron was an artificial intelligence, a program. Mr. Stark is a human being.” Isabel Montoya defended, but Suvorov wasn’t even remotely appeased. If anything, he was even angrier than before.

“And who created said program, Delegate Montoya?” He spat with even more anger than before, but Tony found it the perfect moment to intervene. “The Mind Stone did, actually.”

Everyone looked at him at that moment, Suvorov’s eyes still wild with anger. “What?” He asked, confused. “You know, the Mind Stone? One of the six Infinity Stones? The most powerful destructive force in the universe, which Thor warned us about after Ultron? Which altered the program that was Ultron at the time, which wasn’t even close to a interface, and turned it into a murder bot. It was all in the testimony I gave in court after the whole fiasco, I’m sure you’ve heard about it.” He explained casually, although he wasn’t feeling very good about humiliating Suvorov. The guy had every right to hate him. If only he knew about Wanda...

The Sokovian Delegate looked incredibly ashamed and taken aback, the rage completely gone, giving place to embarrassment. He settled back on his chair and looked down, finally deciding to keep his mouth shut.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.” The Delegate from Germany said, taking off his glasses. “You have to forgive us if we are a little wary of this situation.” He said, looking pointedly at Suvorov, who squirmed even more on his chair, but didn’t say anything.

“I read your report about your abilities that you sent us before this hearing, and I see that your abilities are incredibly remarkable, but the question isn’t what you can do, but what you’re GOING to do with these abilities.”

That’s exactly where he wanted to get, and he felt incredibly thankful for this guy’s support. “I’m not going to do anything that would pose a threat to the world, because if I wanted to, I would already have done it. See, I was at the hospital for two weeks doing nothing more than practicing Extremis with my AI, FRIDAY, and using Ross’s little dirty secrets as my test subjects.” He explained, full of confidence, aware of the irony of the last part.

Everyone in the room seemed to relax a little after he finished, so he continued. “I’m going to use this ability for what it is. An enhancement. There’re numerous advantages that this power concedes me and I’m going to use it to aid my services as Iron Man. I don’t have any reason to use it for anything but. The serum didn’t alter my personality. I’ve sent all of you Dr. Cho’s results of the tests she ran on me.”

At that, all of the Delegate’s phones vibrated, showing the results of said tests. “I’m just as Tony Stark as I was before the serum, I can assure you of that.” He finished, shrugging casually at the end.

The representatives from the whole world seemed to be looking at each other, trying to reach an understanding, which came after 15 seconds: “You’re clear to go, Mr. Stark. We will let you know our decision in 3 weeks maximum. Have a good day.” The representative of Germany said decisively, smiling at him. He smiled back and got up.

While he was starting to walk out of the room, he turned back at the last second. “Delegate Suvorov.” He called, and said man’s head immediately snapped up to look at him. “I know I can’t ever say this enough but... I’m really sorry for what happened in Sokovia.” He said, meaning every word.

The delegate nodded, tentatively smiling. “I know you are Mr. Stark. I can also never thank you enough for all the investment you put in rebuilding my country. Forgive my behavior today, please.” He said apologetically, and Tony smiled back, nodding, before leaving the room, all the while feeling a huge weight being lifted out of his shoulder. But it was still not nearly enough to get back from this whole “Civil War” fiasco.

That’s how Pepper found him, five days later, at his workshop, working in Rhodey’s leg braces, although he was probably staring at an indefinite part of the skeleton of the braces instead of actually doing anything.

He knew Pepper was coming. He had seen her through the cameras from the Compound- that was so cool by the way- and FRIDAY had already warned him of her presence here. He didn’t know why exactly he had let her in the workshop. He didn’t really wanna talk with anyone right now. Not that it mattered. Pepper was still one of few people who had the override codes for his workshop.

Even with all that, he still jumped in surprise when she spoke. “What is it?” She questioned softly, making him immediately look at her.

“They’re- huh, they’re leg braces, to help Rhodey walk again, since he didn’t want go through Extremis like I did. Doesn’t know what he is missing, honestly.” He quipped, but his eyes betrayed any sense of humor that he might have wanted to input.

“Tony...” She said with that tone of voice that preceded a heart to heart talk that usually ended with them in bed, sweating next to each other. Unfortunately, that ended a long time ago.

“Hm...” He said, already having his back turned to her and back at work on the braces. “You know you can’t do this forever.” She said sternly, and he got confused. “Do what forever?” He said, not turning around to look at her just yet.

“Blaming yourself.” She clarified. He immediately understood, and responded with a snort. “Wow, you say it as if it was so easy.” He said bitterly, finally turning around to look at her.

“It is! You just have to realize that it’s not your fault that Rogers decided to be an asshole and decided that his way of thinking was right and the 117 countries that disagreed with him were wrong, and to top it all he decided to keep a secret from you out of pure selfishness! And don’t even get me started on Rhodey, that wasn’t even remotely your fault!” She said frantically, full of confidence, which only seemed to anger him more.

“How the hell not, Pepper?!” He yelled angrily, walking into her personal space. “I needed his help at Leipzig, he helped me, and got CRIPPLED in the process, how the hell isn’t that my fault?!” He yelled, eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

“He supported the Accords too Tony! He is your goddamn best friend! He would have helped you anyway and you know that!” She argued fiercely, but he wasn’t even slightly moved.

“Oh and look how well that worked for him! Or for everyone else! Because next thing I knew, all my “friends” had been locked up in a supermax prison in the middle of the ocean!” He argued even more fiercely, his eyes glowing a beautiful cerulean blue from Extremis.

“Oh you mean the same “friends” that threw cars on you? Who rolled their eyes at you when you tried to warn them that the Chitauri were most likely coming back? Who judged you without even listening to your fucking side of the story?! Those friends?!” She yelled, shimmering with anger. Tony just hung his head.

“It doesn’t matter what they did, I shouldn’t have let Ross take them. I should have known that he would pull something like that. I should have-“ He muttered with an absolute miserable expression, but Pepper wasn’t backing down.

“Worked for weeks to find evidence that would put that bastard away for good and then exposed him in front of the entire comitee in the most humiliating way imaginable?! I don’t know if you remember, but you did that 5 five days ago!” She yelled, desperate to make him see reason, but he continued to stare at the ground with that miserable expression that she absolutely loathed.

Then, he uttered the words that broke her heart. “If I’m such a good person, then why does everyone keep leaving me?” He asked, finally looking up, face and voice so broken that she had to work REALLY hard to contain her tears.

She sprung foward immediately, enveloping him in a bone crushing hug, which didn’t hurt him at all, thanks to his enhancements. Still, he broke down on her shoulder after 10 seconds of extreme awkwardness.

She ran her fingers through his hair as he cried desperately, absolutely hating anyone who was even remotely involved on his suffering. Herself included. After he calmed down a little, she finally couldn’t take it anymore and said: “I’m sorry.”

He lifted his head slightly to look at her with confused and bloodshot eyes. She immediately clarified. “I’m sorry for leaving you when you needed me the most.”

His eyes immediately widened. “Pep-“ He started, but she didn’t let him. “No Tony, I need to say this, and you need to hear it.” She said sternly, and he immediately shut up. Dealing with an angry Pepper is not something he wanted to do right now. Or ever, honestly.

“I was wrong. It was wrong of me to ask you to just stop being Iron Man. You ARE Iron Man, suit or not, and I just selfishly wanted you to stop, and I’m so sorry...” She trailed off, unable to hold her tears any longer.

He was SHOCKED to say the least, but he didn’t say anything. He just hugged her, holding her with infinite tenderness like he always did. She buried her face on his shoulder, crying desperately for every horrible thing she did to the man in front of her. She should have NEVER asked for him to stop. She just couldn’t take it anymore, the feeling of dread every time her put on the suit to be a hero.

And then literally everyone besides Rhodes, Vision and FRIDAY abandoned him. Where was HER, when that happened?

She finally lifted her head from his shoulder, looking at those chocolate brown eyes that she loved so much. “You want to try again?”

He stuttered, making him look like a dear caught in the headlights. “W-what?” He asked incredulously. She just clarified calmly. “You and me, do you want to try again?”

His eyes widened more than humanly possible, and she couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. God, she loved him. “Bu- But you-“ “I know what I said Tony, and I already said that I was wrong. You’re Iron Man, I made up with that already. Now, do you want to try again?”

He couldn’t believe this. He simply couldn’t believe this. The woman of his life, simply asking to be with him again? How the heck did that happen? He didn’t deserve this...

No, no, he did deserve this! She came here and apologized, he must be doing something right.

Finally accepting that maybe he wasn’t a monster, he grinned, the first REAL smile that he gave her in a while. “Well, that was easy.” He quipped, and she snorted, before kissing him.

* * *

_**6 months later.** _

He was honestly getting pretty tired of this shit. Tony was currently flying in the Mark 47, avoiding purple Chitauri laser beams while a bunch of idiots tried to shoot him down with less than success.

He was currently trying to prevent them from incinerating the Barton's farm. He didn’t exactly know how Ross had found out about this place, but he had a pretty good guess.

‘You have a wife and kids. I don’t get it, why didn’t you think about them before choosing the wrong side?’

He had said that to Barton, before shutting down the audio. Well shit.

Tony would carry that guilt with him with a smile on his face, along with every other bullshit he ever did in his life that probably accumulated into a river. A river made of shit.

Him and Barton had always been good friends, especially after New York. The guy couldn’t even look someone straight in the eye after that. Apparently not even his family, because he took the offer Tony made for him to live at the tower in about five seconds.

That was probably what kickstarted his friendship with Romanoff, now that he thought about it.

But he didn’t exactly know what the fuck happened in the Civil War. The guy had simply given up on his retirement, and walked over to Cap’s side without even listening to his.

‘Watch your back with this guy! Huge chance he’s gonna break it!’

That hurt, A LOT, and apparently, Barton knew that, because as soon as he had gotten back home to be on house arrest, a deal that he had arranged for him and Scott, it wasn’t long before he contacted him.

Then, it was the usual talk. He was sorry for being a complete asshole with him and not even realizing it until he saw Ross being arrested like an idiot at national TV. Tony laughed for days after that particular piece of information. He didn’t know that the footage had gone public. He probably had FRIDAY to thank for that...

He was tempted to be a petty asshole like everyone seemed to think he was and just tell Clint to go fuck himself, but the man was genuinely sorry, he could see it in his eyes and even in his fucking demeanor. He didn’t have the heart to not give the guy another chance. Also, he missed his pranking buddy.

And that led him to this, fighting off with a bunch of idiots that were using alien tech to try and capture two kids, a toddler, a housewife, and a guy with a bow and arrow.

He had come immediately, not even checking with the Comitee first since he was basically just another one of Ross’s stunts. After he exposed Ross, the midia had different reactions. Although they were glad to see that scumbag being thrown in jail (and then escaping not even a month later) they also lost a huge deal of trust with the Accords, because if one of the members was corrupt, how many more could be?

Tony fought with teeth and nails to ammend the situation, showing the public evidence that Ross was acting in complete violation of the Accords, and he had outed him, actually enforcing the Accords that Ross was supposed to represent. The midia and the public had calmed down after that, so Tony continued to work on the Accords, amending them and making them actually acceptable and not as restraining as the last one. Having Ross out of the picture was a huge help.

Speaking of him, the former secretary of state was being a huge pain in his ass in the last six months, trying to trap him and incriminate him at every opportunity, and openly attacking him some times. Always using his goons of course. Fucking coward.

It was decided pretty quickly that he had liberty to act upon these situations as he pleased.

And now here he was, remotely controlling the Quinjet using Extremis to bring down the choppers (seriously, how much ammo did Ross need to take out a family?) while him and Clint were taking down Ross men left and right.

He shot down another heatseeker missile before it could get too close to the jet, and promptly retaliated with a tank missile of his own, which sprouted from his forearm and hit the chopper, destroying it instantly and making it come crashing down dramatically, rolling around like a movie scene.

“How the hell do you manage to shoot this things just in the right way so it doesn’t hit the farm?!” Clint’s exasperated voice came through the comns, while he stuffed two more guys with arrows, before rolling out of the way of a blast and doing a flip, getting upside down in the air and head-shooting the guy dead.

“Physics. You should really try to go to school some day Barton, it would help you a lot.” He said as the Quinjet took down the last chopper, which crashed basically besides the last one.

He could hear Clint’s snort through the comns as he came back to the ground, already slicing two guys dead with his lasers before even touching it. He promptly dodged another goon’s blast before flying towards him, hitting him in the troath with a strong punch, killing him instantly.

He instantly ducked to avoid being hit by the goon that was beside the last one, who tried to swat him in the head with the large cannon he was holding. Too bad for him that the suit was now directly connected to his nervous system. To Extremis. He thought, the suit did. He basically WAS the suit now. Extremis did wonders for him.

The genius retaliated by getting behind the fucker and grabbing his upper arm and head, painfully shoving him to the ground before firing the repulsor on his right hand, which was holding the guy’s head.

It wasn’t pretty.

He saw three more idiots preparing to fire at him, and they were in the perfect position. With a thought, a missile sprouted from his shoulder and fired towards the goons, who couldn’t do much besides getting blown to hell.

“The area is clear of idiots, Boss. Good job.” FRIDAY commented in his head. He smiled. He talked to her a lot more through Extremis than through the armor nowadays.

“Not that it’s exactly a achievement, am I right?” He asked through Extremis as well, and heard what was closest from a snort that she ever heard from her.

God, she was growing up so fast...

“The area is clear, Birdbrain. Found your family yet?” He asked casually, although inside he was worried as hell. It goes without saying that he was always welcome in the farm, and suddenly, he became fucking Uncle Tony. Don’t ask him when that happened.

“Yup, we’re coming towards you.” He said, and Tony could practically hear the relief in his voice. “Got it, I’m bringing the Quinjet down.” He informed while they made their way through the wrecked farm towards him.

Unfortunately, he had been a bit late to arrive when FRIDAY had warned him that the Barton’s were in danger. She constantly monitored them, and until now, Ross hadn’t been able to find them, so when she warned him that at least 2 choppers and 5 armored trucks were heading there, his heart skipped a few beats.

He landed the Quinjet just as the Bartons came out of the farm, looking scared as hell but alive. That’s all that mattered to him.

“That Extremis thing you do it’s still super creepy.” Clint commented jokingly as they entered the jet. “Shut up Barton, you’re just jealous because I actually have super powers.” He said while stepping out of the suit.

“Whoa! Roasted!” The kids bellowed, and they both grinned from ear to ear, before he got tackled by a hug from Laura. “You came... thank you.” She said, kissing his cheek while he looked desperately at Barton, practically pleading for help while the asshole grin only widened.

The kids decided to join in on the fun too, and suddenly Tony was being hugged by a bunch of affectionate idiots who thought they owed him something. He patted Laura’s back awkwardly, trying to desperately get out of this situation without being rude.

“Uh... sure. You know, just my job, avenging around and all that. You know, the usual.” He said awkwardly, and they all just laughed, before finally letting him go.

They were already in the air, since FRIDAY had already started the jet while he was busy getting hugged. Speaking of her... “Avenging around? You can do better than that, Boss.” The AI said smugly in his head, and he just rolled his eyes in that legendary way while making his way to the cockpit where Barton was already flying the jet to the destination marked on the map.

“I think you should mind your own business missy.” He said with the same smug tone. Having his baby girl in his head was great, although in the first 2 months people thought he was crazy since he was basically talking with himself the whole time. Thank god he learned how to do it telepathically, because it would be weird to explain all the weird conversations they have while in public for much longer.

“Sure thing, Boss. I’ll leave you to your boring pathetic life while I basically do your job here at the Compound. Oh, and the Bleeding Edge is almost done, just so you know.” The AI said casually, and he couldn’t help but smile fondly. His bantering with her reminded him so much of JARVIS…

“Nice work. Now go there and be useful for a change.” He said sarcastically, and again he could hear what was basically a snort coming from her. No, she wasn’t JARVIS, but he loved her just as much.

“So, where exactly are we going again?” Clint asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. He just smiled mischievously at him. “A safe place.” He said cryptically, and the archer looked confused before his eyes widened.

“Tony, you didn’t-“ He started disbelievingly, but was promptly cut off by Tony. “Don’t you dare to get all emotional on me Barton, I’m Tony fucking Stark. My backup plans have backup plans. I have dozen of safe houses at the ready for you guys.” He said dismissively, not looking Clint at the eye so he wouldn’t see the amazement and thankfulness in them.

“Swear jar!” Laura yelled from behind them, and Tony groaned. “Ah you gotta be shitting- He immediately cut himsef off as Clint snorted. “You’re going to make her rich at this rate man.” He muttered fondly.

“Heads up, open the ramp, my buddies are bringing your stuff here.” He warned as three of his Iron Legion suits approached the jet, being controlled by FRIDAY so he wouldn’t have to do so with Extremis. He could use the thing effortlessly, and it didn’t have any consequences on his body or his brain, but it tired him after a while, and even he deserved a break after a fight like that.

Thank god Extremis also increased his durability. He was getting tired of all the headaches. And his right arm had finally stopped trembling.

Clint complied, and sure enough, three white and blue suits entered the jet with a few bags each, before gently dropping them at the ground and saluting playfully towards the exasperated Bartons. “It was a pleasure to serve you my friends.” FRIDAY said jokingly before making the suits come back to the tower so they could be put back in place.

“My god Tony, is there anything you can’t do?” Laura asked laughing while the ramp closed. He smiled. “I’ll tell you when I find out.” The genius said, although he had a million of other sad answers that he could give them, but there were kids watching.

Soon enough, they arrived at an open field, with another farm which was even bigger than the last one. As the Barton’s exited the jet, Tony and Clint were talking.

“Sure you don’t want my help to settle in?” The billionaire asked while they walked down the ramp of the jet, and the kids immediately made a run for it, and Laura immediately tried to keep up, which was hard to do when you were carrying a toddler.

“Nah, it’s fine. You literally saved our lives today dude, get some rest.” The archer advised fondly, while Tony rolled his eyes. “My god, you sound like Rhodes. Are you sure Lila still can’t have that pony-“ He was immediately cut off by a terrified Clint.

“No! Please by the love of god, don’t make her a pony! There’s only so much I can take on this life Tony, geez.” He said, appearing genuinely terrified. Tony just shook his head.

“A pleasure as always, Legolas. Call me if you need me. Seriously.” He said while extending his hand. Clint just looked at it like it was a alien tail before he snorted and enveloped Tony in a hug.

“You too man.” He said softly, while Tony awkwardly patted his back. They let go and smiled at each other, before Tony climbed the ramp and gave Clint a peace sign, which Clint returned while the ramp closed. Then, he crouched and grabbed the bags containing their belongings, which undoubtedly included supplies that Tony had bought for them.

The smile never left his face while he made his way back to the farm.

Back in the jet, Tony was also grinning ear to ear while piloting the jet back to the Compound. “Well, this was great.” He said to himself.

“It sure was, Boss. You got hugged twice as much as you would have been in an average day.” FRIDAY immediately responded in his head, her tone so smug that he thought that he was talking with Loki.

“So much sass. Tell me, don’t you have anything better to do besides being a pain in my ass?” He asked with just as much sass.

“Of course I do. But none of them are as fun as being a pain in your ass, Boss.” The AI said in a light tone, which was basically an enigma for: I really like being around you, Boss.

“Awwww. I like to be a pain in your imaginary ass too, FRI. Tell me, how are things at the Compound?” He asked softly, slightly touched by his baby girl’s behavior.

“Miss Van Dyne is ready to decapitate you for not warning her before going to rescue the Bartons. Her words, not mine.” She said with delight, and Tony deflated.

“Ah shit. Put her through, let’s get this over with.” He said with a miserable expression, readying himself for his death. “Swear jar.” FRIDAY sing songed before putting the CEO through.

“OH, LOOK WHO DECIDED TO PICK UP!” She immediately yelled, and he immediately flinched, losing control of the jet for a second.

“Jesus, Hope! You know these calls come through my head now right? And I’m flying the Quinjet like, right in this moment?” He answered through Extremis, and the woman just got angrier.

“And I hope you crash it into a mountain you asshole! Seriously, why didn’t you warn me, you could have gotten hurt!” She said angrily, although he could hear the worry in her voice.

He couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised when Hope Van Dyne asked for a meeting with him 6 months ago. He fully expected her to hate him just like her father did, but apparently that wasn’t the case, since she genuinely apologized for Lang’s actions at Leipzig, and asked for a place in the Avengers to help him to bring him in and make up for all the shit he did. She just had one condition.

Her father’s tech was off limits.

He simply smiled and shook her hand, promising just that.

She then signed the Accords and joined the Avengers roster, which was good since Rhodey was still undergoing terapy at the time, and Vision had basically disappeared of the face of the Earth, claiming that he needed time to “discover himself” or something like that.

After what Wanda did to him, he didn’t even argue.

They both had bonded over the fact that everyone expected them to be just like their fathers, and had actually became great friends, especially since her father wasn’t exactly pleased with their new found partnership, along with numerous other obstacles that they overcame together, which strengthened their friendship A LOT. Which was probably why she was screaming his brain off right now.

“Hope, it really wasn’t a big deal. Me and Clint took the fuckers down with barely any trouble. I didn’t have time to call you after FRIDAY warned me. Sorry, I was worried. Unfortunately, we couldn’t save the farm, but I already put them in another one where I’m pretty sure Ross won’t find them, at least until we get rid of him.” He explained, and she seemed to calm down slightly, slightly being the key word.

“If you ever do something like that again, I’m going to shrink down and get in places you REALLY won’t like, you hear me?” She warned in a way that reminded him so much of Pepper that he openly laughed.

“Dully noted. Say, did the Guardians call again?” He asked, hoping (huh? huh?) to change the subject and avoid getting his brain split in two by her screams. Thankfully, it seemed to work.

“Yes, and Gamora is just as ready to kick your ass as I am, so you better be prepared for when we get there.” She said smugly, and he closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, banging his head against it.

“Great. Alright, I’m arriving there in twenty minutes. Tell her to wait a little before she starts to scream at me.” He said miserably.

“With pleasure. Bye you idiot.” She said with no real heat in it and hung up, and he couldn’t help but smile.

“To my death it is...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be posting three chapters today, and continue posting weekly one chapter at a time. I already have 12 chapters done, and chapter 13 is going to be finished by tomorrow, so you guys don’t have to worry about updates or anything like that. Now that I fixed the spaces and some contextual shit here and there, I will post chapter 3. Prepare for some roasting...


	2. Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, we will have some flashbacks in this one. Don’t know if it’s going to repeat itself in the rest of the fic but maybe. We’re also going to take a look at the Bleeding Edge, or Mark 50, or the suit he used on Infinity War. I know it seems soon, but he had Rocket’s help. Pretty sure they could have pulled that off, even if Rocket isn’t physically there. Now, before you guys think I’m high on drugs or something, the numerical order is actually right. Mark 47 is the one that appeared on Homecoming, and that he used last chapter, Mark 48 is actually the Hulkbuster Mark 2, the one Bruce used in Infinity War and in the beginning of Endgame, and Mark 49 is actually the Rescue armor Mark 1, both of which he already made in the six months time skip. Now let’s get this embarrassment over with.

_**6**_ **_months_ _ago._**

To say that the Rogues were shocked would be an understatement. They had just seen LIVE FOOTAGE of Tony taking down Ross by simply sitting in a chair and doing nothing, or at least, that’s what they thought.

It hadn’t been divulged to the public where Tony was in this two weeks yet, and Steve was starting to get worried that he had taken things too far in Siberia, but then the billionaire suddenly appears at an UN hearing like nothing happened, looking 20 years younger and a lot more tired and just... broken, than Steve had ever seen him.

He had to hold his tears back when he realized that he was most likely the cause of that.

He had screwed up, BADLY. He had been a selfish asshole and kept a huge secret from Tony just to protect Bucky. A part of him tried to tell himself that he was right to do so, considering the way Tony reacted in Siberia, but the logical and sensitive part of him was screaming at him that if he hadn’t been an asshole and actually told Tony the truth when he found out, maybe things wouldn’t have ended up that way.

He hadn’t told the team what exactly happened in Siberia, just said that they had fought and that he had barely won and in the end, they managed to escape. They got a little suspicious but didn’t say anything. Until now that is.

God, Natasha was going to KILL him...

“Steve... I think we made a mistake.” Sam said carefully, and everyone seemed to agree with that. Steven just lowered his head, blinking back tears. “We made several, Sam.”

“He never wanted the Accords then... He really wanted to protect us...” Wanda whispered, looking horrified and remorseful and angry at herself at the same time.

“Oh, he wanted the Accords alright. He just never wanted them the way they were. He would never have left you guys fall in the RAFT if he knew about it.” Steve said with certainty, and Clint lowered his head. Apparently, Sam was pretty pissed at something he said to Tony when he visited them in the RAFT.

“What aren’t you telling us Cap.” Clint said suddenly. Steve immediately looked up. “Clint-“ “No Cap, no more lies, no more withholding information. I already judged the guy without hearing the full story once and now he just got rid of our biggest problem in national TV. Now. What. Happened. In. Siberia?”

Every eye of the room was on him, and Clint looked more dangerous by the second. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

It wasn’t. As soon as he finished his story, the room went silent for five whole seconds before Clint lunged at him, with Sam barely being able to restrain him in time. Steve didn’t even move. If Clint hit him he would certainly deserve it.

“Let me go!” The archer yelled furiously, fighting against the hold of the Falcon. “Calm down man! Look, I want to hit him in the face just as much as you do, but this is not the place!” He tried, and Clint seemed to calm down a little after that.

“I’m sorry.” Steve said simply. What else could he say? “To hell with your sorry. You should be apologizing to the guy who you left to die in the cold after he just found out that his parents had been murdered you fucking asshole!” He yelled, but made no move to attack him. Clint sighed.

“I need some fresh air.” The archer said while walking out of the room. “Yeah, me too.” Scott said awkwardly while also getting out of the room, purposefully going in the opposite direction. One by one, they all left the room. Left alone, Steve didn’t hold his tears anymore.

Clint was right. He needed to apologize.

* * *

_Meanwhile,_ _in Tony’s lab:_

“Almost there.” FRIDAY said, while Tony was leaning down on what looked like a medical chair, with several cables and wires connected to his head, with his eyelids half lifted, his eyes glowing blue behind them.

“You said that two hours ago, I’m starting to think you’re lying to me.” The genius said lowly, but FRIDAY could always hear him now. “I would never do such a thing, Boss.” She said innocently.

“Haha. Very funny missy. See? That’s why you’re a pain in the a-“ He stopped abruptly as one of the wires fired up, sending a slight electric shock towards him.

“OUCH! FRIDAY, what the hell?!” He yelled indignantly. “It wasn’t me Boss. Something is trying to make contact with us, and is causing a slight power surge at the Compound.” The AI explained casually, although she seemed a little worried. Tony sighed.

“Alright, guess we can continue this later. Damnit, we were almost done...” He muttered angrily, ripping the wires and cables of his head, gently so he wouldn’t damage the sensitive material. They were just about done with linking Mark 45 with his nervous system, and would do the same thing with Mark 47 as soon as it was ready. It would take a while, but it was worth it. That suit would be the strongest he ever made, just below VERONICA in raw power, but miles above it in mobility, speed and electronics. Mark 46 wasn’t repaired yet, so he went with the next best thing.

“Where is the transmission coming from?” He asked, half ready to call Mark 45 to him. “That’s the thing Boss... It isn’t coming from Earth.”

...

“WHAT?!” He exclaimed. He was minutes from having a panic attack. No. This couldn’t be true. The Chitauri were back. Their leader was finally here, probably to offer a surrender offer or something stupid like that. He warned them. He fucking warned them.

“BOSS!” FRIDAY’s worried voice brought him out of his panic. “Boss, it’s okay. It definitely doesn’t have any Chitauri readings, as far as I can tell. Would you like me to put the call through? It seems like a distress signal...” She trailed off worriedly. He perked up at that.

Distress signal... Someone could be dying. Granted, it could be a trap so they could contact him and track his location, but he couldn’t risk people dying because of his paranoia. It happened once already, it wasn’t going to happen again.

Although, everyday it seemed a lot less like paranoia and more like reality.

“Put it through FRI.” The genius said, trying to look as calm and controlled as possible while also leaving the suit in standby, ready to come to him as soon as anything went wrong, and since he was receiving a call from space it would most likely go wrong.

Out of nowhere, holograms began to pop and disappear on his workshop, before stabilizing, showing a man in a jacket with a gorgeous woman that screamed murder at his side. The man appeared to be sitting and the woman appeared to be leaning on the chair.

“Hel- Hell- Hello! Is this thing on? Do you hear me?!” The guy yelled, and he cringed. “Yeah, I hear you, you can stop yelling now.” He said, slightly annoyed, and the woman seemed to share his sentiment, slapping the guy lightly at the head. “Told you.” She said, as if she had said it a million times already.

“Sorry about that.” The guy cringed, before perking up again. “Hey Rocket, you did it man! We managed to contact him!” The guy yelled to someone behind him. A few seconds later a gruff voice answered.

“Whatever. It’s not like he’s going to help us anyway.” The voice said, appearing to be annoyed. “C’mon Rocket, give the guy a chance! He flew a bomb through a wormhole to destroy that Chitauri mothership, remember that?” The guy asked, and the voice groaned, appearing to be even more annoyed. “Doesn’t mean he’s gonna help us Quill. Now shut up and let me sleep.” The guy- Quill- just scoffed.

“All you do is sleep.” He said, and before this could escalate any further, Tony decided to speak up. “Hold on, hold on a second. How do you guys even know about that?” He asked incredulously, a second away of turning the transmission off, but Quill’s even more incredulous gaze stopped him.

“Dude, are you kidding me?” He asked as if the man had grown a second head. “Everyone knows about that. We all saw a man of metal fly through the wormhole with a giant missile on it’s back, before he fell through the portal again.” Quill explained, and Tony’s head was spinning.

So, he was famous in space? Huh.

“And you guys knew it was me because...” He trailed off. Gamora spoke up then. “Me and my sister were allied to Thanos for a long time. He wouldn’t stop talking about you after that. It’s understandable. It isn’t anyone who can stop one of his invasions.” She said all of that casually, like she hadn’t dropped a huge bombshell on his face.

“WHOA WHOA WHOA! Thanos?! Who the hell is Thanos?! Loki was the one who invaded Earth.” He said, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that there was someone else behind Loki. I was right, I was right, I was-

“Maybe we got the wrong guy Quill. Just turn it off already, it’s not like we’re ever getting out of here.” The same annoyed voice from before said again, and Tony had to swallow his scream when a talking RACCOON appeared as another hologram, walking casually in the scene as if it was completely normal for a raccoon to walk.

“What’re you looking at?” He said annoyed after Tony stared at him for too long. “At the talking raccoon that just appeared in front of me, along with the two other holograms that also appeared in the middle of my workshop five minutes ago.” He said without any sarcasm. He was still too shocked to do so.

“This is Rocket. He’s kind of an asshole but you warm up to him after a while. Hopefully.” Quill explained casually, earning a kick in the leg from Rocket.

“Okay then, let’s go back on track. As I said, no Thanos ever invaded Earth, so it’s clear that I’m not the guy you guys are looking for, so how about we disconnect and pretend that this conversation never happened or, better yet, was just a weird dream.” He offered, kind of hoping they would agree.

“Wait.” Gamora said, almost desperately, which made him look at her. “Did this Loki have a scepter?” Tony’s eyes widened. “Would that scepter have a blue gem that actually held a yellow gem inside? And that gem’s name would be-“

“The Mind Stone.” Gamora finished. Tony collapsed in his chair, looking at them with wild eyes. Quill looked at Rocket, a grin plastered on his face. “It’s him.” He said smugly, getting kicked again in response.

“Alright, what do you guys need me for. FRIDAY said this was a distress signal?” The mechanic asked, straight to the point. “FRIDAY?” Rocket asked warily. “My AI.” He clarified.

“Pleased to meet you all.” Her Irish voice greeted warmly, making the three of them look at the ceiling, Gamora reaching behind her jacket instinctively. “So Terra has AIs now? Maybe you’re not so much of an idiot after all!” Rocket laughed.

“Rocket.” Gamora reprimanded, visibly calming down. “Terra?” He asked curiously, ignoring Rocket for now. He had a feeling they would be great friends after a while.

“It’s how we call Earth in space. Look dude, I know this is all too weird but we really need your help to stop Thanos from getting all the Stones and doing... something. But it will be something bad, trust me.” He begged, pointedly leaving out the part where half the universe would be erased if they failed.

“Alright, look, before we go to the dark side of the story, I want you guys to tell me why this is a distress signal and why you guys can’t come here to ask for my help in person in the first place.” He said, leaving no room for argument.

The Guardians looked slightly taken aback by his concern for their safety and looked at each other awkwardly for a few seconds. Finally, Quill answered.

“The thing is... we’re kind of stranded.”

_**Present** **Day**_

He pondered over this memory a lot of times in the last six months. How he met the Guardians and found out they were stranded in a planet named Xiaxu, where they were looking for an Infinity Stone.

Unfortunately for them, someone else already knew there was a Stone there, since when they arrived there, the planet was surrounded by the Kree.

“The Kree are one of the most powerful intergalactic empires of the universe, just behind Thanos. They ambushed us as soon as we got out of warp. They knew we would be there somehow.” Tony remember Peter explaining.

They stole the Guardian’s fuel and seriously damaged their ship, but they managed to go into hiding. The Kree thinks they’re dead, so it’s a nice advantage.

Thankfully, Tony didn’t spent the last six months sitting on his ass. As soon as they were done explaining the situation, Tony already had the rough schematics for a space ship ready. Thank God Rocket is also a genius.

He was right in his assumption when he thought that they would become great friends. Rocket was like him in more ways than one. He tried to never show that he cared, and got annoyed if someone demonstrated care for him. He also was snarky and sarcastic to the point of no return, and just like Tony, he was an expert in annoying everyone so they wouldn’t care about him.

And, of course, he was a fucking genius. His help in building the jet that would rescue them from Xiaxu was essential. Tony didn’t know if he would be able to build the thing alone, and that was something he would never admit.

But apparently, Rocket’s ability of pushing people away didn’t work on the Guardians, because they were a team for almost two years now. It made him sad. Him, Peter, Gamora, Drax, Groot and Mantis, were a better team than the Avengers ever dreamed to be.

He didn’t know if it was a good idea to get attached to them, considering the track record of people who dared to give a flying fuck to him, but he reminded himself.

‘No. No! The Avengers made me think like this. They looked down on me, distrusted me, thought I wasn’t fit for the team, and betrayed me.’ They made him think like that. He had to stop blaming himself for something that happened because everyone distrusted him.

So, as much as he tried not to, he got close to them. All of them. Peter and his snarky but soft behavior, Gamora and her deadly but caring personality, Drax, who reminded him so much of Thor, with his bluntness and inability to filter his speech, Rocket and his sarcasm and way of caring by showing that he didn’t care, Groot, the talking tree who he almost had a heart attack when he saw, who could only utter three words but that were probably laced with the sarcasm and uncaring personality of a teenager, and Mantis. He could see why Drax liked her, she was just as blunt as him.

He doesn’t know exactly when it happened, but they all became friends. He couldn’t understand how he could possibly trust a bunch of holograms more than he trusted his ex teammates, but it definitely happened.

He couldn’t stop laughing every time he remembered Rhodey, Pepper, Hope, Hank and Peter’s reactions when they first met the Guardians. It was even weirder since he made communication systems especially for them, so the holograms didn’t look as unstable as before and actually had color.

Six months was a long time to be stranded on a planet, so he had to work fast. Ross didn’t help a lot, but thank god they had stocked a lot of supplies before coming to the planet. They wouldn’t have lasted long if they didn’t.

The plan was simple, but big. Really big. They would finish the jet, him and Hope would go to the planet, infiltrate there as quietly as possible, extract the Guardians, the Milano, and from there they would locate the Infinity Stones and collect them one by one and put them in a safe place.

Away from Thanos.

It was hard, but he had to admit that he needed help for this. Only him and Hope wouldn’t be enough to fix everything if things went south in Xiaxu, so he had to call THEM back.

Thank God the UN understood the severity of the situation, and allowed temporary pardons for the Rogues until the situation was solved. It helped a lot that Stephen Strange was there to confirm the facts.

Now THAT was a weird occasion. Imagine this. Tony, chilling on the secret quarters of the Compound, where he was absolutely sure he wouldn’t be spied on while working in the jet along with Hope and the Guardians, and then suddenly an orange portal opens out of NOWHERE, and a guy dressed like a monk with a cheesy red cape flapping behind him and a goatee that he could proudly say was inferior to his, comes out of the portal saying that they needed to talk.

Well, he saw a talking raccoon that can stand in two legs and a teenage talking tree. This wasn’t much worse, honestly.

The guy had helped A LOT, casting protection spells on the jet on top of the already insanely strong force fields they were developing, and explained the whole situation at an UN hearing, even showing the Time Stone that rested on the Eye of Agammoto as proof.

They hadn’t argued.

So, he signed the Accords, and thank GOD that he had worked really hard to amend them, since now they had a clause that specifically said that, as long as the one who signed the Accords vouched for them, their allies didn’t need to sign to aid him. That was specially fortunate considering that not everyone in Kamar-Taj was a huge fan of the Accords.

As long as they didn’t collapse any tunnels, it was fine by him.

The jet was practically ready, since FRIDAY worked on it constantly with the Iron Legion. Hope’s ants also helped a lot. When he saw a small army of ants working on the spare warp drive with Hope controlling them with her mind, he decided to never take any insect for granted again.

Hank also helped. He had (understandably) thrown a fit when he discovered that Hope was planning to go to fucking SPACE to rescue a team of ex criminals that she only knew by hologram so they could work together to stop an intergalactic tyrant from destroying half the universe.

When he realized that she wouldn’t back down on this (which didn’t take long) he had demanded to be involved on the construction of the jet as well, to make sure she would survive the entire trip.

Tony hadn’t argued, reminding that this was how he felt about Peter when he gave him the suit.

It was inevitable, but still weird as hell when they started to form a weird sort of friendship, that was based on respect for each other’s minds and caring for Hope.

It helped a lot that he vouched for them to the UN, confirming that Scott had stole their tech and that they couldn’t be held accountable for his actions.

Hope and Hank’s help resulted in their shrinking tech being integrated in the jet, inside of it by a simple blue button, or by a remote control, that was made specifically for the jet. This would be vital for their infiltration on Xiaxu. The longer they aren’t seen, the bigger chance they have to survive this shit. Not Tony’s style but whatever. He valued his friends lives more than that.

Rocket was also essential, giving the specifics necessary to built the foreign parts of the jet, such as the warp drives. They built three, a main one, a spare one, and one for the Milano when they get into repairing it.

He also made a suit for Pepper, making sure that she would be safe while she was gone. She wasn’t even remotely happy when she learned of his plan, but as soon as she laid her eyes on the Guardians, it wasn’t much of an argument anymore.

The kid was a pain in the ass to convince to stay put. He had insisted that Tony brought him along, but a threat to tell Aunt May what he did when she wasn’t looking gave his begging a swift and painless death.

Still, he made sure to get the Iron Spider ready, and told the kid to suit up and stick with Rhodey when the time came. As much as he didn’t like it, he couldn’t stop the kid from helping defend the Earth. He would have done it anyway, so he did what he had been doing for months.

Made sure the kid wouldn’t die.

He was sure Thanos would send his minions to Earth too. They had 3 Infinity Stones here after all.

Rhodey hadn’t liked it, AT ALL, but he would have to stay here on Earth while Tony was gone. There was no telling of their time limit, and Tony was sure that the only reason Thanos hadn’t acted yet was because he didn’t know where all the Stones were located. Yet.

War Machine was a heavy hitter. He couldn’t be out of Earth while it was being attacked. He had tried to argue that Tony was a heavy hitter too, but Tony countered by saying that the Guardians would never be able to find all the Stones without him.

Rhodey didn’t have much to say after that.

FRIDAY would be on the jet as well, since Tony had already installed servers for her inside of it, along with Wi-Fi connection. Being without internet sucked.

So now here he was, testing his most powerful and mechanically advanced suit to date with six holograms watching him along with Hope, Hank, Peter, Rhodey and Pepper, who were all behind a protective glass to make sure they wouldn’t be blown to hell.

“FRIDAY, status.” He commanded, flexing his armored fingers, barely feeling like there was an armor covering them. He basically WAS the suit now after all.

“All systems are fully operational, Boss.” She said, through the suit this time, making sure her connection to it was perfect.

“Double check.” He ordered, not wanting to fuck this up. This was the suit he would use to rescue the Guardians and save the fucking universe, at least until Rocket got his hands on it. It COULDN’T fail.

“We’re ready to go.” She confirmed, through Extremis this time. He grinned. “Let’s take this bad boy for a test drive then. Alright, we’re ready!” He yelled to his team (his family? pssh) behind the glass.

Hank nodded. “Let’s see if I can finally kill a Stark today.” He muttered sarcastically, getting gently slapped by Hope in the arm in return. He pressed a few commands and suddenly, nine cannons appeared all around Tony, charging.

“Defense systems test, phase 1. Initiating in, 3.” Hank started to count.

“Boy, this is not gonna end well.” Peter said worriedly.

“2.” Hank continued.

“He’s gonna die. He’s gonna die. He’s gonna die.” Peter continued to say to himself, unaware that everyone was listening and they shared pretty much the same sentiment.

“1.” Hank finished, and all the cannons immediately fired thin red beams at Tony, who barely moved. “KEEP GOING!” He yelled, and Hank raised the potency.

“Are you kidding me?! Does he want to kill himself?!” Parker exclaimed incredulously.

“Yeah.” “Pretty much.” “Probably.” Everyone said at the same time. Peter just groaned. “God, the universe is doomed...”

“Ok, that’s enough.” Hank said, powering down the lasers. Tony just flexed his shoulders.

“Tony? You okay, honey?” Pepper asked worriedly. Tony just looked at them, showing that there was a tiny whole on the mask, showing his left eye, which immediately regenerated.

“That’s all you got? Bring it on!” Tony yelled excitedly. Hank just shook his head. “Jesus... Ok, initiating defense systems test, phase 2, in 3.” He started, and another cannon appeared, this time bigger and more menacing, charging purple energy that would be directly fired at Tony.

“That is a big cannon.” Drax remarked. “Really? Hadn’t noticed.” Rocket answered flippantly.

“2, 1.” As soon as Hank finished, the cannon fired a powerful purple beam at Iron Man, who simply put his arm in front of him, where a big retangular red and gold shield materialized from it. He dug the shield in the ground and took the beam head on, which hit the shield and got cut in two, being completely blocked from hitting the Golden Avenger.

The beam kept firing for a good twenty seconds before it stopped, revealing Tony, who had barely moved from his position, with the shield smoking but otherwise completely undamaged.

The shield dematerialized and the nano particles went back to the suit’s arm, and Tony simply looked back to his team. “NEXT!”

Hank shook his head. “Great, I helped create a monster.” He muttered sarcastically. “Trust us, we know how it feels.” Rhodey said. “Eh, I’ve seen better.” Rocket commented with his arms crossed.

“I am Groot.” Groot uttered the three words he knew, while playing space defender, which he hadn’t stopped doing since the test started. “Jealous is your ass, I helped to build it. And stop playing this thing, it will melt your brain.” The raccoon said annoyed.

“Jesus Christ, what is my life.” Peter muttered to himself, burying his face in his hands. “I ask myself the same thing every day. You guys need to hurry up before I kill all of these morons.” Gamora commented sarcastically. Maybe.

“She is joking right?” Hank asked his daughter. “You never know. Alright time for the offensive systems test!” She said, changing the subject, grinning when Hank’s eyes widened.

They went like this for 2 hours, testing all the offensive, defensive, mobility, and nanotech tools that the Bleeding Edge had to offer.

It was amazing. The suit was probably more powerful that 43, 45, 46 and 47 combined. It could sustain several laser beams in maximum capacity against it for MINUTES, the Nanotech repulsors were just as powerful as the multiple reactors powered Unibeam from the Mark 46, and the Nanotech tools that it could create were probably what made the suit pretty much invincible.

The fun ended when Tony was flying around, dodging gracefully from several metal pillars that emerged from the walls, ceiling and floor. The neural connection was working better than ever, and now with a single thought, he could create blades, cannons, shields, bigger thrusters, and command the suit as if it was an extension of his body and mind.

His last suit, Mark 47, codenamed Extremis, was similar, but nowhere near this one. If this is what he could do with Rocket’s help while he was an hologram, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what will happen once he’s working on it physically.

“Boss, THEY arrived.” FRIDAY said with no small amount of disdain while he was about to dodge a pillar that was coming from behind him. “Wha-“ That was about as much as he got out before he got hit on his back by a gigantic metal pillar. He fell on the ground with a grunt. The funniest part is that it barely hurt.

“Oh boy!” Peter exclaimed while Hank stopped all the pillars, getting out of the room along with him, Pepper, Hope and Rhodey. Rocket and Drax burst out in laugher.

“Ah, ah, that was hilarious!” Rocket said hysterically. “He must be so embarrassed!” Drax said between laughs. “Shut up you two, he could’ve gotten hurt!” Gamora hissed. “I helped him build that thing. The last thing that will happen is him getting hurt.” Rocket retorted.

Hank and Peter helped Tony stand up, with Rhodey, Pepper and Hope standing aside, all with worried looks on their faces. “Hey man, you okay?” Peter asked while Tony’s mask retracted. “Sure, barely even felt it. Damn this thing is good.” He commented, looking completely unharmed.

“Well, guess today is not the day I get to kill a Stark after all.” Hank said with a sarcastic smile, which Tony returned gratefully. “Guess not. FRIDAY, shoot, what happened?” He said to the ceiling.

“I- The Rogues arrived... sorry for my timing, Boss.” The AI said with an absolute miserable tone that an AI created by anyone who wasn’t Tony Stark would be incapable of.

“It’s fine girl, geez. It would take a planet falling on this thing to really damage it.” He said dismissively while the suit retracted back to it’s housing unit on his chest, trying to distract himself from the fact that he was about to have the most awkward and difficult conversation of his life.

They knew him better than that, though. “You sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Hope asked, looking angry and worried all at the same time.

“Nah, don’t worry, they don’t need a committee waiting for them when they arrive. Just Rhodey and me will be enough, we’re the only ones that they actually know here.” He explained, although it did little to fray their nerves.

“What about Pepper?” Peter asked, pointing at the woman. “She’s fine, but she’ll probably decapitate them as soon as she lay her eyes on them, so it’s for the sake of everyone involved that she stays here for now.” He explained casually while they walked back to the control room.

“Are you sure that would be unwelcome?” Quill asked sarcastically. “Most definitely not, but you guys need to be rescued so...”

“I still can’t believe you offered them this, Tony.” Pepper said, shaking her head. “Trust me, neither do I. Hopefully, they’ll all die in the middle of the way, so, fingers crossed.” He said casually, and everyone chuckled.

“Ok, it’s time. Rhodey, c’mon. Peter, our Peter. Mask on, all the time. I don’t need Cap annoying me about bringing a minor to fight him or something like that.” He said to Parker, whose mask came up to cover his face.

“Well, technically, I’ll be eighteen in one month, so...” He tried. “He considers Wanda a kid. Don’t risk it.” Was all Tony said. Everyone still thought he was joking when he said that.

“Ok, time to go. We’ll contact you again after you guys warp. Good luck.” Quill said, and Tony smiled. “Sure. Try not to die while we’re on our way, please.”

Quill just rolled his eyes, grin plastered on his face. “On your dreams, Stark. Don’t kill any of those idiots, I want do it myself when they get here.” Rocket said, teeth sharp in a smile.

“I look forward to speak with you again, my friends. Please come quickly. Staying in the same ship with Quill and Rocket for six months is... torture.” Drax said, practically spatting the last word.

“Shut up Drax! Stop ruining everything!” Quill yelled indignantly. “Idiots aside, thank you Tony, for doing this for us. We know you didn’t have to do this if you didn’t want to.” Gamora said, smiling kindly at Tony. He just avoided her gaze, still not knowing how to take praise from anyone who wasn’t Pepper.

“Yeah, whatever. Saving people it’s what I do, I guess.” He said, waving his hand. She just chuckled, knowing full well of his habit. He’ll never forget her expression when he promised they would stop by to save Nebula along the way.

Gamora’s sister hadn’t contacted them since they got stranded there, and Gamora had a pretty good guess of what happened to her.

“I am Groot.” The teenage tree said, finally looking up from his game. “He said: Good luck morons.” Rocket translated.

“Yeah. Sounds like him alright.” Hope laughed. “Bye guys!” Mantis said in that excited way of hers. “Bye Mantis!” Everyone said at the same time. At that, the holograms vanished.

Tony sighed. “Well, time to go. Wish me luck.” He said while walking out of the room with Rhodey. All of them cast a last worried glance at them both before going towards the secret lab, where the jet was located, so they could prepare everything for launch.

“You sure about this man?” Rhodey asked worriedly as they walked towards the main room where their ex teammates were waiting.

“After the letter I sent to Wakanda, I’m pretty sure they won’t try to kill us. If they do... well, I guess I’ll just have to kill all of them and we do this alone then.” He said casually, trying really hard not to show that he was freaking out inside.

“Not that bad of an option.” Rhodey said sarcastically, bumping their shoulders together. “Nope. Not at all.” He grinned as they reached the room. His grin immediately disappeared, as he tried to contain the murderous rage he was feeling as he looked at all of them.

Wilson  
Maximoff  
Romanoff  
Rogers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaand Cuuuuuut!!!  
> That’s it, another gigantic chapter that I needed to explain some things. Yup, Tony already knows Doctor Strange, yes they’re friends and yes, he’s going to appear later at the story. Next chapter some actually important stuff is going to go down, so stay tuned. Yes, there’re THREE stones on Earth. I changed some stuff, don’t judge me. Also, I think I fucked the spaces on the last chapter. Tell me if it’s good on this one. Later morons!


	3. Reunion

“Holy shit.” Romanoff muttered, so silently that he probably only heard because of his advanced hearing. She was blond now. Huh. “You look- you look really good Tony, I didn’t expect-“ She started, trying to smile at him, but he immediately cut her off.

“So I’ve been told.” He interrupted, not returning her smile. He looked around the room. He put his hand over his eyes, then lowered it again. “Well, this is not a nightmare. Damnit.” He muttered the last part.

“Tony-“ Rogers started, and his blood boiled. “Nuh huh huh! I don’t wanna hear it.” He said, immediately raising his hand to shut him up. It worked.

“Look, the only reason, we’re even having this conversation right now, is because, the whole UNIVERSE is at stake here, and, UNFORTUNATELY, I can’t save it alone. I assume you got my letter.” He said to Rogers.

“I got it. Thanks for sending it by the way, I know you could have-“ “Done nothing and leave you all to die while I did this all by myself? Trust me, I wanted that. But I have ACTUAL friends to save right now, so I didn’t have a lot of options.” He said in his not so passive aggressive mode. 

All of them were already looking down. ‘Good.’ He thought. ‘Now they know how I felt.’ 

“Did you get my letter?” Steve asked hesitantly, and Tony snorted. “Oh, if you mean that stupid explanation letter along with the dinosaur that was supposed to be an olive branch, yeah, I did.” 

Rogers looked down again. “Yeah, I know it was bad. Bucky screamed my ear off about it when he found out.” He said hesitantly, and Tony knew exactly what this was. He was testing if Tony really was ok with Barnes now.

No, he wasn’t ok, he would never be “okay” because it doesn’t matter if the guy was brainwashed or not, it was still his face and his hands that killed his parents. But as he said in the letter, he wouldn’t try to kill the guy again.

“Cryo must have done some good for him, then.” He said simply, snorting again at their incredulous gazes. “Please, who do you think I am Cap? Contrary to your belief, flip-phones can be tracked. Also, you know, I can control tech with my mind and all that.” He explained casually, pointing at his head. 

Their eyes widened even more. “You can- control technology... with your mind?” Wilson asked, looking curious and terrified.

“Did you tell them what happened? Or did you decide to “spare them” too?” He seethed, glaring at Cap. “I told them. Everything.” He said without a moment of hesitation. Tony just raised an eyebrow at him.

“You understand how difficult it is for me to believe a word that comes out of your mind right now, right?” Tony asked casually, words seeping with anger. 

Rogers looked down again, and Wilson decided to intervene. “Nat punched him in the face and we had to take her off of him before she strangled him with her tights.” He explained hesitantly, and Tony just scoffed, looking at Romanoff, who was staring at him with big, guilty eyes.

“So cute, I’m touched. Really, I am. Would be a lot more touched if you had done that six months ago.” The genius said without mercy, and she so subtly winced. 

“Tony I-“ She started, but he wouldn’t even let her start. One minute would be enough for her to complete a lifetime worth of lies. “Shut up.” He said in such a cold and detached tone that all of them reeled back. 

He took a few breaths to calm himself. “Look, let’s just go back on track before I say something I’ll regret. Yes, Wilson, I can control technology. Thanks to your boyfriend there.” Tony said sarcastically, pointing at Steve, who looked at him like he had been slapped. 

“I- I didn’t-“ He tried, and Tony was already rolling his eyes. “You slammed your shield against his already weakened chest with enough force to break the reactor of the suit. What did you think was gonna happen, you fucking idiot?” Rhodey, who was only glaring at all of them until now, finally spoke up, words laced with so much venom they actually took another step back.

“Yeah. Sucks to be me I guess, right? Your other boyfriend was safe, so it was okay to leave me with a concussion, internal bleeding, five broken ribs and a punctured lung to freeze to death while you fucked off to Wakanda right?!” Tony continued mercilessly, barely restraining himself from activating the Bleeding Edge and blasting him to hell.

They were all looking to him with expressions so horrified that he would have found funny in another lifetime. Not this one though.

“You- you were moving, I thought-“ “I didn’t move too much after that.” He interrupted, and Steve’s eyes got as wide as dinner plates. “Yeah. Helen said he would have lasted two weeks, at most. So Pepper decided to give him Extremis.” Rhodey explained, wishing he could just kill them already.

All of them looked about ready to cry by now. Good. 

“That’s how you can control technology?” Steve asked hesitantly. “As much as it disgusts me to become even remotely close to what you are, I didn’t really want to die.” He seethed, and Steve just nodded, looking down again. 

“The original serum didn’t do that.” Romanoff commented, making him look at her. “I modified it. Helped a lot in the last six months against Ross. Hey- did you know he attacked Laura?” He asked, grinning when her eyes widened in terror, along with everyone’s.

“Yeah. Terrible, really. Thank god FRIDAY monitors them all the time. I went there the second she warned me. Saved their lives, put them in another farm, you know, that kind of stuff. Would really have appreciated your help with Ross in the last six months, but I guess you just couldn’t put up with my ego anymore, could you?” He ranted without mercy, enjoying the way her eyes widened and glimmered with unshed tears at the last part.

“Tony, that’s enough, this is not going to change anything-“ Rogers started in that self righteous way that made his blood boil. 

“You’re right! I should shut up, you know, to spare her.” He seethed, and Rogers jaw snapped shut, although he continued glaring at him. Guess he didn’t like when he insulted his parters in crime.

He took his gaze back to Romanoff, who was still standing there with her arms crossed protectively in front of her, staring at him with guilt and sadness and... fear?  
He doesn’t care. His vision had narrowed in a dark tunnel, and at the end of it is Romanoff.

“He told you what happened right? How I went to help him in Siberia and found out his best buddy murdered my folks back in ‘91? Got to watch it happen on fucking candid camera. Crazy right? Guess he already knew. Probably found out at the whole Project Insight thing. Kept it to... to himself...”

Looking like a deer caught in the brightest of headlights, Romanoff’s whole body visibly tenses, as his brain starts doing somersaults in his head, as he allowed himself to consider an option that he never dared to consider before.

“You knew too...” He whispers, cold anger, and a deep, stabbing agony floods his whole body as he stares at her, completely in shock, along with Maximoff, Wilson and Rhodey. “You were both in that mission-“ 

“Tony-“ Rogers starts, switching from angry to sad and protective in a matter of seconds. Protecting his fucking parter in crime, what the fuck-

“SHUT UP ROGERS!” He yells, and the guy takes two steps back at the amount of anger in his voice. He forces his gaze back to Natasha. 

“Romanoff, you too?” His words are hurt ones now, and she can’t do anything but nod, looking horrified, and take her gaze to the floor as tears begin to well on her eyes. Tony doesn’t care. She might as well be dead for him.

He looks at Rhodey, who looks MURDEROUS, and laughs quietly. “Unbelievable.” He mutters, shaking his head, blinking back tears. Another person who he once considered one of his best friends knew. And didn’t even had the decency to tell him.

“Who else knew?” He asked, and nobody answered him. “Fury.” It’s not a question, but the crushing silence that follows just confirms it. “Hill.” Again, no one dares to say anything. 

Not one. Not two. Not even three, but FOUR people who he thought he was close with withheld this life changing information from him. What. The. Fuck.

He really needed to choose his friends better.

“Tony.” Romanoff started, and red is already starting to appear on his vision, so he has to act quick before he does something he will regret. “Choose your words really carefully, because it could be the last ones you will ever say.” He mutters in such a cold and detached tone that all heads immediately turns to look at him. 

Romanoff is visibly holding tears. “I’m sorry.” She simply says. Tony just chuckles. “Sure you are.” He mutters loud enough for her to hear.

“I am, Tony! I really am. Please, if there’s anything I can do to-“ “Grab your gun, put it in your mouth, and pull the trigger.” He immediately interrupts her stupid attempt to apologize. She’s lucky he didn’t shot her yet.

Her eyes widened in shock and hurt, and a tear finally slipped down. He managed to make the Black Widow CRY. That’s one story to tell his grandchildren, if he survives this. Once they turn eighteen.

“I told her not to tell you.” Rogers decided to interrupt, stepping protectively in front of Romanoff, who is just looking down, appearing to be completely detached from the world.

“I made her promise not to tell you. I told her I would tell you. I lied to her too, Tony. Please, don’t be mad at her.” He begged, and Tony didn’t even blink.

Typical.

“What a shocker.” He says sarcastically, satisfied when Steve winces. “Wow, you really, REALLY like to fuck with my life huh? Are you sure you’re not just some robot that dad made so he could make sure that he would still-“

“You can hit me if you want.” Rogers interrupts his next devastating wave of insults, and, for the first time in a long while, Tony Stark is rendered speechless. 

“I- what?” He asks, genuinely confused. “You can hit me. Call your suit and blast me away or something. I deserve it and you will probably feel better.” The asshole explained, looking totally sure of what he was saying.

No I won’t. “You have no idea.” He seethed instead. “So do it.” Cap said, standing there, fully believing Tony would hit him right there and then.

“Me too.” Romanoff said, coming to stand beside Rogers, speaking again before he could protest. “You can hit me too. Go on, I won’t do any-“ 

Nano Particles were already covering both his hands before she could finish speaking, and, making sure they weren’t powered up enough to kill them, he fired each repulsor.

It hit both Rogers and Romanoff head on, sending them flying and slamming into a wall, falling back to the ground, trying shakily to move, but to no avail.

“Damn, he was right. That felt good.” Tony said as the Nano Particles disappeared, while Maximoff and Wilson were trying to help Rogers and Romanoff to stand up.

“C’mom man, I wanted to do that.” Rhodey whined, and he grinned at him. “You’ll have your chance.” The genius said sheepishly, before turning absolutely serious again as the liars finally got back up.

“Feel better?” Rogers groaned out, leaning on Sam for support. “You’re still alive aren’t you?” Tony retorted coldly, to which Rogers gave a defeated sigh.

“Well, whatever, I’ll have plenty of chances to kill you in the middle of this clusterfuck, so let’s get to business.” He said casually as he walked to the table, which lit up with holograms with a command of his mind.

“Holy shit.” Wilson muttered, his advanced hearing picking it up instantly. “Yeah, it has it’s perks.” He shrugged as Maximoff helped Romanoff sit on the couch behind the table, who nodded thankfully and leaned back on it.

Good. Now she knows a little of the pain he felt. 

“What’s the situation?” Rogers asked, looking steadier now, already standing on his own besides Wilson, both in the other side of the table. Far away from him. Smart.

“Well, as I said in the letter, the whole universe is at stake here, so we CANNOT fuck this up, is that understood?” Tony asked in the most serious tone they ever heard him speak. It actually scared them a little. 

At everyone’s nod, he continued. “Ok, so here’s the deal. Six months ago I got contacted by a group called the Guardians of the Galaxy. They are apparently a bunch of ex criminals who ended up meeting and becoming a team at the most unlikely of circumstances, and saved the universe from an Infinity Stone. So you know, no big deal.” He explained casually, not going in depth about them, knowing very well it wasn’t his place to tell.

“Do you trust them?” Steve asked, and Tony just snorted, fixing him a “really” look. When Rogers actually held his gaze, he realized that the guy was actually serious.

“Oh my god, he’s actually serious about this.” He said to Rhodey, who was beside him. The colonel just shook his head and looked down, burying his face in his hands.

“Here’s the thing Rogers. The Guardians consists of a guy who got abducted when he was eight and became a space thief, a girl who also got abducted when she was eight and became basically her space version.” He said, pointing at Natasha.  
“A fucking talking raccoon, never comment that to him by the way.” He almost snorted at the way that all of their eyes widened. “A talking tree, who is a teenager at the moment. A blue big guy who is just as blunt as Thor, and a girl with antenas on her head who can feel your feelings by touching you and is just as blunt as the blue big guy, and all of those guys are a better team than the Avengers ever dreamed to be, so yes, I trust them. Any other questions?” He asked, looking around, loving the way Rogers looked down in embarrassment. 

“Go on.” Natasha said, voice carefully blank. “Finally. So, about six months ago, I got a distress signal from them, saying that they were stranded in a planet called Xiaxu and that they needed my help.” He paused, looking around at their shocked expressions. “Oh but that’s not the best part, no. The best part is, remember the Chitauri and Loki? Well, guess what, they’re back. And this time we’re going to be facing their leader. Thanos.”

He paused again, enjoying the look of sheer terror that washed all of their faces as they looked at each other, trying to come to terms with this revelation. 

“How do they know all this?” Steve asked in that suspicious tone of his again. At least this time it made sense. 

“Remember the girl who got abducted? Her name is Gamora, and just guess WHO abducted her?” At the understanding that swept their faces, he continued. “Yeah, and you can guess he wasn’t the best of fathers, so just try to imagine how much she hates him?” He said, killing Steve’s suspicions for good. 

“She also had a sister, called Nebula, who Thanos also abducted. She went missing, just when the Guardians got stranded, so we’re also going to rescue her in the middle of the way. Now.” He changed the holograms with a thought, presenting images showing all the Infinity Stones, along with their recipients. 

“Thanos’s endgame, is this.” He said, pointing at the Stones. “He wants the Infinity Stones?” Romanoff asked, clearly confused, and understandably scared. “Yup.” Tony said while waving a hand, making the hologram change to a familiar blue cube.

“Remind you of something?” Rhodes asked sarcastically. “The Tesseract... is an Infinity Stone?” Steve said slowly, trying to wrap his head around the fact. 

“Meet the Space Stone.” Tony continued as he snapped his fingers, making the Tesseract tremble and dramatically explode, revealing a glowing blue stone.

“What does it do?” Maximoff chimed in. “Controls all space and is able to open portals to anywhere in the universe. You have this thing, you’re basically omnipresent.” He explained, changing the hologram to a familiar scepter.

“Loki’s Scepter.” Steve said immediately. “You want a prize?” The technopath retorted as the blue gem exploded, revealing a glowing yellow stone, which floated and got placed at someone’s forehead, as the hologram revealed a familiar android.

“Vis...” Wanda muttered happily, and he had to hide his snort. She didn’t seem that happy when she buried him fifty feet underground when he didn’t even touch her.

“Where is he now?” Sam asked, finally speaking since the beginning of the briefing. “Good question.” He said, looking accusingly at Maximoff. “You don’t know where he is?” She asked, worry and panic seeping in her tone. 

“Funny for you to ask that. Let me tell you what happened. Six months ago you buried him fifty feet underground. After I got out of the hospital he said that he needed some time alone, you know, to figure himself out. After what you did to him I can hardly blame him.” He explained with venom laced in each word. 

By the end of it, she was already looking down with an absolute miserable expression, blinking back tears. “Tony, she didn’t have a choice and you know that. Vision was keeping her there against her wi-“ Steve started and Tony’s blood boiled again.

“She was pretty good with that until you sent Clint after her to join your little boy band.” He seethed, but Steve wasn’t backing down. “If you had explained everything to her-“ 

“I would have done just that if you and King Kitty hadn’t decided to collapse a tunnel in Germany.” Rogers’s jaw immediately snapped shut after that. Tony looked around, satisfied.

“Any more questions about screw ups that you blamed me for? Because we got a lot of them.” The genius asked, getting nothing more than winces and silence. 

“Good. Next.” He continued, changing the hologram to show Stephen Strange. “Who is this guy?” Sam asked. “Dr. Stephen Strange. Supreme Sorcerer of Earth.” He explained, snorting at their incredulous gazes.

“What? C’mon. Aliens, Gods, talking raccoons. This isn’t much worse. He contacted me a few months ago. Helped a lot to bring you guys back, since he used his own Stone as an example.” Tony continued, zooming into the necklace he was using.

“He has an Infinity Stone?” Natasha asked incredulously. “Yup. Meet the Time Stone.” He said, making Stephen disappear and amplifying the necklace, which opened, showing a green stone, glowing a beautiful emerald glow.

“I assume it controls time, but honestly it could be anything so...” Cap said, gesturing at Tony for him to explain. “No, actually it does just that. Complete control of time. Backwards. Forward. It can even create time loops. He used it once the save the whole universe.” He explained casually, and at their curious gaze, he just waved a dismissive hand.

“It doesn’t matter. Look, he operates under the wraps. He never felt the need to reveal himself to us until now, so that means it’s really serious, even for him, so, you know. Protect this stone at all costs.” 

“You got it.” Wilson said, visibly tense, along with everyone else in the room. The hologram changed to show an orb, which opened and revealed a purple stone.

“I present to you guys, the Power Stone.” He said dramatically, spinning the stone around. “Where is it?” Steve immediately asked. “Good question, long answer. Apparently the Guardians came across it a few years ago. Quill tried to steal it and sell to a guy called the Collector. That’s actually when he met all the other Guardians besides the antenas one. They tangled around with a guy called Ronan for it, saved the universe, and gave it to the Nova Corps, an army from the planet Xandar. It’s there ever since.” He finished, looking around to see their expressions.

“That’s... a lot.” Natasha said, leaning back on the couch, closing her eyes for only a moment. “Yeah, the universe tends to get saved a lot in the last few years. This thing can control all the energy that exists, existed, or will exist in the whole universe. It’s impossible to touch it without getting disintegrated, that’s why it was on the orb. Honestly if you dropped this on the floor it would probably be enough to destroy the entire planet in a less than a minute.” He explained casually, hiding his terror. 

The thing is; he was just as scared as them. Thanos had been in his head for the last 5 years, and now he came back with everything. His PTSD came back with a vengeance in the last six months. And now here he was, explaining the abilities of a bunch of magic stones to his ex teammates who had all betrayed him in their own way. God, why couldn’t he get a fucking break... 

“So, we’re just going to go there and ask them to give it to us? Doesn’t sound like a plan.” Wilson said hesitantly. Tony just sighed. “Honestly, if Thanos wants to get this stone he probably would have done it already. He could decimate Xandar without much difficulty any time he wanted.”

“So why didn’t he?” Steve pondered, looking more and more tense by the second. “Because he didn’t know where all of them were yet.” Natasha said, barely audible, looking more like Black Widow than he had ever seen her.

“Ding ding ding! We got a winner. He couldn’t possibly know where the Soul Stone was in all of this mess, but we’ll get on that later. Now...” Tony changed the hologram again, showing a red liquid that moved around, almost like it was alive.

“That’s not a stone.” Steve remarked. The genius just scoffed. Once in a lifetime ago maybe his simplicity would have amused him. Now it just annoys him. “No shit Sherlock. This is the Aether. This.” He snapped his fingers, and the liquid came together at once, solidifying itself into a red stone.

“Is the Reality Stone.” He finished, letting them take a good look into it. “Let me guess, it controls reality?” Natasha asked, sounding a little annoyed. He couldn’t blame her. Magic was a bitch when it wanted to be.

“That, among other things. For some reason, during their creation, this one became a liquid, and it only solidifies when it comes in contact to it’s other siblings, so we definitely want to avoid that.” Tony explained, and Steve was about to ask the obvious question, so Tony did it for him.

“Remember when Thor was back on Earth in 2014, and sightings of alien activity and portals were reported in London?” He asked, looking around the room. “It was the Reality Stone?” Wanda asked, but Tony shook his head.

“It was Thor trying to stop the aliens from USING the Reality Stone, or at least the Aether. I ran over the footage, it’s definitely it.” Everyone nodded at that. “Where is it now?” Romanoff asked the obvious question.

“I don’t know exactly, but I remember Thor saying that they gave it to a collector of some sorts, something about not leaving it too close to the Tesseract. I’m guessing it’s the same collector who the Guardians tried to sell the Power Stone for.” The genius explained casually, shrugging one shoulder. 

“So it’s definitely not safe then.” Steve said, looking more panicked by the second, and, as much as he liked to see the guy like that, that would be counter productive.

“Which means Thanos definitely wouldn’t look there first. We have an advantage on this one. He definitely won’t start with it.” Tony explained, calming Cap down.

“Are you sure about that?” Natasha asked, and he just looked at her pointedly. “Futurist, remember?” He said, pointing at his head.

“What about the last one? The Soul Stone or whatever.” Sam asked, appearing to be full of this shit, and good. He didn’t want to be on this conversation a minute more than necessary. 

“That one is a bit of a problem, because no one has ever seen it.” He started, changing the hologram to the last and probably most powerful stone, which glowed a menacing orange.

“No one has ever seen it?” Wanda asked, looking more tense than ever, alongside all of the Rogues.

“Nope. Which is both good and terrible, since if no one has ever seen it that means Thanos can’t get it, but if he finds it we’ll have no way of knowing. Lucky for you.” The genius changed the hologram again showing a familiar secret country. 

“I found it.” He finished, as all the Rogues basically jumped in surprise. “It’s in Wakanda?” Rogers asked incredulously. 

“What, you really think that Vibranium was the only thing in that meteor? No, not even close. It took a while, really, since the energy readings of this thing are completely different from the Tesseract and the Scepter’s readings, but me and Strange managed to figure it out, after a lot of discussions between magic and science and technology. Which is all basically the same thing so, whatever.” Tony explained casually, as if it was the most simple thing in the universe, which did wonders to convey his terror.

“That’s why you hacked in Wakanda then. T’Challa called you Tony when he was talking about our temporary pardons. I assumed you guys became friends.” Steve said hesitantly, making Tony scoff for the billionth time since they got there. 

“What, you really think I would’ve wasted my time spying you on there? Please.” He said sarcastically, making Rogers give another defeated sigh.

Tony really hoped that it was sinking in that he would probably never forgive him.

“But yeah, answering you question, me and King Kitty became friends, after Shuri finally figured it out I was hacking into their systems. Didn’t take long, just two months.” He snorted at the way their eyes bulged.

“Yeah, contrary to you guys belief, I know exactly what I’m doing. I told them about the situation, and it was inevitable that we would stay in contact after that. You know me. I’m a charmer. Turns out the Soul Stone was there after all, and it probably affected the whole place. It would explain how T’Challa and the previous Black Panthers can see their ancestors when they use the Heart-Shaped Herb.” He looked around to see the wheels turning in their heads. 

“So, what does it do?” Natasha asked, face completely blank again. “I don’t know. This is the only one that basically nobody has information on. All I know is that it controls all life in the universe and... yeah, that’s it. That’s all I have.” He finished, closing the holograms. God, he loved Extremis.

“So, we have three Stones on Earth. That’s not good.” Romanoff commented. Tony just snorted. “Yeah, no shit. Having two of these things close to each other is already begging for someone to steal them. Now we have half of them in the same planet. It doesn’t look great.”

“So we can expect an invasion?” Rogers asked, but it was more of a statement than a question. “We can honestly expect a fucking wormhole opening at the sky again anytime soon.” The genius answered coldly, making both him and Romanoff wince.

“Tony, this isn’t the time for-“ Romanoff started, but he didn’t even let her complete the phrase. This is the part where he rubs all of this on their faces. She wasn’t going to ruin that. He didn’t care that he was being an ass, he was out for blood. Purple blood.

“Oh, like it wasn’t the time to discuss this in the millions of times I tried to warn you guys?” Romanoff’s wince was priceless. 

“We couldn’t possibly have known-“ Rogers started, and that was it for him. “I KNEW!” He yelled, making them all immediately look at him with varying levels of fear.

“I told you two, they would come back! I told you two, that New York was a fluke! I told you, for almost 5 years now, that something was coming, and what was I met with? Eye rolls and scoffs.” He spat out the last part with so much venom that everyone besides Rhodey took a step back from him. 

“And now, here we are.” Tony continued, not caring the slightest how hurt and regretful they looked. Too little, too late. “Having to plan this out with half assed information to fight an enemy who has the biggest army in the universe, and who can probably wipe all of our asses from existence without any of these Stones. Tell me, Cap. Do you still think we can beat this together?” The silence that followed was enough answer for him. He didn’t care if he could hear the distinct sound of tears dropping in the floor. He didn’t care about any of them anymore.

“We probably won’t.” Rogers started, not so subtly wiping his eyes. “But if you called us back here, that means we have a chance. So, whatever it takes, we’ll try to stop Thanos, you have my word on that.” He finished his dramatic speech, and Tony scoffed. His ‘word’ was as good as Thanos’s for him. 

“Yeah, sure. I’ll pretend I believe that. So, here’s the plan.” The genius continued, turning up the holograms again. “That’s a big ship.” Sam commented, clearly in awe. 

“Yeah, I built it along with some friends in the last six months. It will get the job done. The plan is simple, but big. We go to Xiaxu, infiltrate the place as quietly as possible, and rescue the Guardians. If things go south, we’ll just have to hold them off until everyone’s back in the jet.” 

“Them?” Rogers asked. “The Kree. A bunch of assholes that form an intergalactic empire that is almost as big as Thanos’s. The Guardians were there looking for an Infinity Stone, but as soon as they got there they got ambushed by them. They are stranded there for about six months. So this gives us two options.” Rhodey continued, sounding just as detached from them as Tony felt.

“It was either a trap, or there’s really something there and the Guardians got caught by surprise. What do you think?” Natasha figured, nodding at Tony.

“It honestly doesn’t matter, our primary objective is to rescue those idiots, but I honestly doubt even the Kree could simulate an Infinity Stone’s energy signature, so there’s most likely something there. It’s just definitely not a Stone. I don’t know, I’ll figure out when I get there.” 

He was honestly curious about what the heck was in that planet that could create a signal similar to the Infinity Stones. Whatever it was, it would be good to get their hands on it, even if it was just to take it out of the Kree’s hands. 

“How are we going to rescue them without being seen in this jet?” Romanoff chimed in. “It can shrink down.” At their incredulous gaze he just waved a dismissive hand, not wanting to get in depth in this story. They had to leave as soon as possible.

“It’s a long story.” Was all he said. Then he continued. “After we rescue the Guardians, we’ll make a quick stop to rescue Gamora’s sister, and then we’ll try to find all of the Stones before Thanos does, and take them to a safe place, which is basically anywhere far away from him.” Tony said sarcastically, finishing the plan.

So much could go wrong in the middle of it that he honestly didn’t think any of them would survive this. But he had his hands tied. He never went to space before, besides his little stunt with the wormhile, which basically only served to traumatize him, and he never knew much about Thanos to begin with. Thank God for Gamora, but even she doesn’t know everything.

“What happens if he gets all the Stones?” Wanda finally asked, dreading the answer more than anything in her life. He just looked at her. “He gets all of them, and half the universe is dead.” 

Silence. 

“Wha- but- but why?” Rogers asked, looking more confused than terrified. Tony just shrugged. “Who knows? Not even Gamora really knows his true reason for doing this, and trust me, that’s saying a LOT, but...” He sighed, taking a minute to take a deep breath. 

He definitely wasn’t as calm about this situation as he was showing. His PTSD was starting to kick in. After the wormhole, he was uncomfortable about the sheer subject of space. Now, he was basically begging for a panic attack.

“It’s okay Tony, take a deep breath.” Rogers said soothingly, and Tony honestly wasn’t in the mental state for a sarcastic retort right now, so he just nodded, leaning on the table with both his hands.

“Okay, huh. From what Gamora told us, if he gets all the Infinity Stones he will be able to do just that with a snap of his fingers, like this.” The technopath explained, snapping his own fingers for emphasis.

“But why would he-“ “Apparently, according to Gamora, on all the time she knew him, he only ever had one goal. To balance the life in the universe by killing half of it. That’s why he needs the Infinity Stones for.” He paused, letting the information sink in. 

“That- that won’t solve anything.” Natasha said, looking terrified and confused and just a little angry. “How can he possibly think that universe wild grief and trauma will-“ 

“That’s exactly the thing.” He interrupted, making them all look at him. “Gamora said that he truly believes, in his heart, that this is right. So he’s either thinking too much about it, or he’s not thinking at all.” The genius clarified. 

“Basically, either he’s a mastermind or he’s insane.” Rhodey said dismissively, although he couldn’t totally convey his nervousness. 

“What do you think?” Rogers asked, and Tony just shrugged. “It honestly doesn’t matter, he’s probably gonna kill all of us in both options anyway.” Everyone looked even more tense after that.

Satisfied, he closed the holograms. “We need to leave soon. Maximoff has to stay here.” He started, already bracing himself for an argument.

“Why?” She asked indignantly. “Because, Hermione, your powers came from the Mind Stone, which means...” He purposefully trailed off, as understanding settled on her face.

“They can be tracked. He’s right, Wanda, you have to stay here.” Steve reassured, but she still didn’t look convinced, so Tony pulled his trump card. 

“Also, I’ll need you to protect Vision when the time comes.” Just as he expected, her head immediately turned to him, her eyes seeping with hope.

“Strange’s on him. We’ll find him in no time. When that happens I’ll need you to stay with him in the Sanctum Sanctorum with Dr. Strange. If anyone can keep you two safe, is him.” He explained, and her eyes immediately settled on determination. 

“I’m on it.” She said confidently, and Tony nodded. As much as he didn’t trust her with Vision, he really didn’t have a lot of options right now. Now wasn’t the time to be picky. 

“What about me?” Sam asked. “You’ll also stay here as air support, along with this guy.” He said, pointing at Rhodes with his thumb. Wilson immediately tensed but didn’t say anything.

“Are you cool with this, Sam?” Rogers asked, looking at his friend. “Yeah! Yeah, I’m cool. Tony’s right, we need the most people here in case there’s an invasion.” He said dismissively, trying to and failing to contain his nervousness.

The only reason Tony was pissed with this guy was because he had taken Rogers’s side without even looking at his first. It was to be expected, they were best friends after all. But still. The guy barely read the Accords and decided: They are bad.

“Guess you’re stuck with me then.” Rogers remarked tensely. “What a bummer.”

“I would rather have a fucking talking raccoon.” Tony retorted a little aggressively, which earned him a disapproving glance from the Star Spangled Man with a plan. 

“I have plenty to offer to this mission.” He remarked, while Tony snorted. “Sure you do.” He muttered. “I’m on your side, Tony.” 

“Finally. It only took the apocalypse but it finally happened.” The genius retorted sarcastically, meeting Rogers’s glare with a fiery tint in his. 

“I’m coming too.” Romanoff said, and he couldn’t hold his laughter this time. He turned his incredulous gaze at her. “Oh my god. I’m really starting to think you have a death wish or something.” 

“Maybe I have.” She challenged, finally appearing to have snapped. Good. Now he could finally have his fun. “Didn’t you ask me to put a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger? I’m doing just that.” The assassin continued with an edge on her voice, but he just shrugged.

“Won’t make much of a difference. You’re already dead for me anyway.” That was the last straw for her, apparently, since she got up furiously and slammed her hands at the table, making everyone but him step back.

“Which part of Rogers making me promise to not tell you didn’t you understand?!” She practically yelled, but he wasn’t even remotely phased. 

“The part where he pointed a gun at your head and threatened to kill you if you told me.” He remarked coldly, making her fury disappear completely as her eyes widened. He snorted then. 

“What, he did point a gun at you? Damn, didn’t think you were that kind of guy.” Tony continued without mercy, looking at Rogers, who was trying to burn his skull with his glare. 

He then snorted again, before looking back at the Black Widow. “Tell me something Romanoff, if it were Barton’s parents who were murdered in that video, would you still have kept this to yourself?” She couldn’t answer, just looked down. 

“Thought so.” He finished, looking around the room. He then sighed. “The only reason, I’m letting either of you come, is because I need all the help I can get right now. If you guys screw this up, I’ll make Thanos look like a fucking high schooler, are we clear?” He said in such a cold and threatening voice that in that moment, they didn’t see Tony Stark. They saw the Merchant of Death.

At their quick nods, he breathed a sigh of relief. Fucking finally, the explanations were over. Now they could finally go rescue his friends. 

“Ok, now that everything is dealt with, FRIDAY, is the jet ready to go?” He asked the ceiling. 

No response. 

“FRIDAY?” He asked again, a little bit of fear slipping into his tone. He couldn’t say much more as the whole Compound shook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAND CUUUUUT! Yeah, cliffhanger, but fuck it, now things are finally getting good. Now that the dramatic reunions and explanations are dealt with, we can finally go to the part where Tony starts to kick ass. Next chapter is going to have a lot of action, so stay tuned. It comes a week from now. Later morons.


	4. Thunderbolt

“What was that?!” Wanda immediately asked, as all of them looked around in panic, but Tony wasn’t listening. No. Every bit of himself was dedicated to finding his baby girl.

“FRIDAY?!” He asked in Extremis, feeling a kind of fear he hadn’t felt in a while on his gut. A fear of loosing one of his kids.

“I’m here, Boss.” The AI said soothingly, and he gave an audible sigh of relief. THANK GOD. He already lost JARVIS. He simply couldn’t lose FRIDAY too.

He honestly didn’t know if he could survive this journey without her. 

“What happened? Something just shook the whole Compound.” He asked telepathically, already tightening his special jacket so the Bleeding Edge could be activated when he needed.

“I’m not sure. I’ve been completely disconnected from the Compound. I’m still in the jet and at the tower, but someone turned me off the Compound.” She explained, sounding annoyed and just a little panicked. 

Well, guess it was up to him then. “Got it. Stay put, baby girl. I’ll see what’s happening.” He reassured, and he could feel her relief seeping out of her code.

“I’m always here, Boss.” She reassured, before going quiet to let him work. 

He sent her his feeling of gratefulness, before looking into the Compound’s front cameras to assess the situation.

He couldn’t say the sight surprised him. There were at least eight choppers, all armed to the teeth, with several men inside each one of them. On the ground, there was Ross.

He was using some kind of armor that Extremis couldn’t identify. Definitely Chitauri then.  
Man, he couldn’t wait to get to Xiaxu to rescue the Guardians. Rocket had already developed a new operating system for him that he had to be physically on the Milano to be installed. After that, hacking alien tech would be piece of cake.

“Well, great.” He said out loud, making everyone look at him. “What?” Natasha demanded, already in full Black Widow mode. 

“Ross is here. Guess he decided to give us a little parting gift. Finally...” He muttered under his breath. The asshole was finally physically here. He could finally end him for good. God, he wished Bruce was here...

“What do we do then?” Rogers asked, and he looked at all of them. “We kick his ass.” The billionaire said just as the rest of his team entered the room.

“What happened?! FRIDAY won’t respond, and the whole Compound suddenly shook!” Pepper said frantically, already suited up in the Rescue armor. 

Each one of his ex teammates looked at her with shocked expressions, especially Rogers and Romanoff, who both knew how much she hated the suits.

“Ross disconnected her, I guess. She’s fine, she’s still at the tower and at the jet. But we have to deal with Ross before we can go.” He explained, and they all immediately settled on a look of determination. 

“We’ll follow your lead.” Rogers said, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from widening for a second, before he schooled them back on a serious expression. He forced himself to nod, looking at Hank. 

“Go back to the lab, the Compound will be fine. We’ll come back as soon as this is dealt with.” Hank nodded, looking at Hope.

“Be careful.” He said, pulling her into a hug. “I will. Now go!” She ordered, and he did just that, running back to the lab as fast as he could, probably already beginning to set several ant traps around the whole place. 

“This is Hope, the Wasp. Scott’s sort of ex girlfriend. She’s coming with us to Xiaxu. That was her dad, Hank.” He explained, and they didn’t have much time to say anything before the Compound shook again.

“What’s Ross doing, throwing missiles at us?!” Peter asked incredulously, completely suited up in the Iron Spider suit.

“Actually, he’s doing just that.” Tony confirmed, looking again at the cameras. “Are you kidding me? How is this place still up?” Sam asked incredulously.

“Protective enchantments.” Hope said simply, fully suited up in her Wasp suit with her long hair tied in a ponytail. 

“Yeah, Strange thought it would be a good idea. I didn’t argue. Now, if you guys are done questioning everything, can you please suit up?” As soon as he finished speaking, Sam and Wanda left the room in a hurry, going to do what he said. Romanoff and Rogers remained.

“Your suits are still in your rooms. Didn’t have enough time to burn them yet.” He said coldly, loving when they both winced and looked down. 

“What about-“ Rogers started, and Tony immediately knew what he was about to say. “Your stupid frisbee is there too. You’re more useful to me with it. Now go!” He ordered, and they both immediately left the room, leaving him there with Pepper, Peter, Rhodey and Hope.

“Do you really trust them for this?” Pepper asked with barely contained anger. “God no. But Ross has to go down, NOW. I don’t care if I have to fight alongside them again, this has to happen.” 

So, 5 minutes later, they were all suited up and in a line, walking out of the Compound, where Ross was waiting for them. Tony was the only one who wasn’t in a suit yet. He wanted to see the terror in that bastard’s face when he realized what exactly he was capable of now.

“Oh, look who finally decided to show up!” Tony immediately started, as they all stopped a good distance from the armored madman. 

“I could say the same to you, Stark. What took you so long to get here? I had to fire a few missiles just to get your attention.” The ex Secretary of State said sarcastically, looking at all of them as if they were gum on his shoe. 

“Anything is more worthy of my time than you, honestly. Now, do a brother a favor and tell me how a complete idiot like you managed to disconnect FRIDAY?” He questioned, genuinely curious, although he had a good idea.

“Oh, I had plenty of time with her, since you left her wrapped nicely in the RAFT for me to take.” The bastard said smugly, grinning that freakish smile of his, and Tony’s blood boiled. He touched his baby girl. One more reason for him to die.

“You left FRIDAY at the RAFT?” Rogers asked, disbelief etched on his entire face, along with everyone else’s. 

“What, you didn’t think you managed to break into that place by yourself, did you?” He retorted coldly, and they all sucked in a breath. 

Of course. Doors opening by themselves. Security systems with pitiable security. 

He turned back to Ross before any of them could say something. Now wasn’t the time to be sentimental or anything stupid like that.

“Well, congrats, you managed to be a failure even at that. She’s still pretty safe there at Stark Tower. You should really try to do your job better than that, Teddy.” 

Ross just grinned wider. “Oh, I know that. I couldn’t get past her main servers damned firewalls, so I just sent some of my friends there to deal with your tower. They’re probably already there. Guess you can say goodbye to your little AI and fancy skyscraper with your name on top of it.” He seethed, looking at him with an expression that just said: Please punch me in the face.

At everyone’s worried and terrified looks, Tony just grinned. “Oh, you mean the tower in which FRIDAY is still fully operational at? Where there are more or less fifty suits that she can remotely control as soon as she senses a threat? You mean that tower?” 

Ross grin immediately disappeared from his face, and Tony just grinned wider. “All clear here, Boss. No casualties besides the idiots in the choppers.” FRIDAY said in his head, and he thought his face would split from so much smiling.

“Ops. Too bad, guess FRIDAY already liquidated all of your “friends” as we speak. Sucks to be them, I guess.” He said casually, doing cartwheels of joy in his head as Ross’s expression changed from smug to sheer rage.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to kill you all myself then!” He said, as his faceplate snapped into place. Tony just snorted. “And what’s that thing supposed to be? A love letter?” The genius asked, pointing lazily at the armor. 

He couldn’t say it wasn’t menacing, with silver being it’s main color, with four glowing purple circles at the arms and legs, and a bigger purple circle at the chest, where the reactor was obviously located. 

“Do you like it? I call it Thunderbolt. What can I say? You inspired me.” He said, lifting his arms so Tony could have a better look.

“Oh yeah, I’m flattered. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all. You could at least have tried to do a decent job though.” He said flippantly. Ross just sneered, as several of his men descended from the choppers, carrying all sorts of Chitauri weapons.

“If you’ve seen through FRIDAY than you know what we’re dealing with. There’s no reason for you to try to stop us. If we fail you’re dead too.” Steve said, trying to defuse the situation.

“Oh, in fact I do, Rogers. See, I don’t share your deluded belief that you can stop Thanos, so I’m going to do the next best thing. As soon as I’m done killing you all, I’ll take your stupid jet and go to him, offering my services. If you can’t beat them, join them.”   
Ross explained, fully believing he would be able to take them all on.

“You’re stupid if you think he’ll spare you after he’s got all the Stones.” Peter said, but it came as a menacing deep voice instead of a teenage one, making half of his team jump and look at him.

Tony just snickered. He loved Advanced Interrogation Mode.

“You’re right. I think I should take a few tokens of appreciation with me, what do you think?” He said, probably grinning like a madman again. God, he would enjoy killing this guy.

“You’re insane.” Romanoff chimed in. Apparently she shared his sentiment, giving the blankness of her voice. 

“Maybe I am. And that’s why I survived as long as I did. Guess I can relate to Thanos in this aspect. I guess we’ll be good friends.” He seethed, raising his hands, the left one having a small purple circle at the palm and the right one carrying a menacing looking purple cannon, which was starting to glow brighter by the second.

“Well, at least you will meet him in hell.” Tony said, stepping forward, as the Bleeding Edge started to materialize from the housing unit on his chest with a command from his mind.

“What the-“ Ross started, already firing both his cannon and repulsor at him, but it was too late. Tony had already materialized a big retangular red and gold shield in front of him, which took all the blasts head on, not even getting slightly damaged.

As soon as Tony reached him, the Nano Shield disappeared, revealing Iron Man in all it’s glory, who immediately retaliated with a strong punch to the asshole’s left side of the face that sent him straight to the ground, skidding in the dirt for a good 5 seconds before stopping. 

As soon as he got up, Tony already had both his arms pointed at him, which had materialized in Displacer Cannons, that were glowing a bright blue, along with four Displacer Sentries that were hovering behind him.

Ross couldn’t do much besides getting blasted away by an enormous blue beam that sent him flying at least a hundred feet.

Then all hell broke loose.

As soon as the Sentries returned to his back and the Displacer Cannons disappeared from his hands, the choppers started firing again. This time at his team.

Thankfully, Maximoff took care of it, summoning a barrier of red mist that stopped the missiles on their tracks, before she shot them back, destroying four of the helicopters.

They immediately started to move after that. Cap, Peter, Hope, Wanda and Romanoff took the Chitauri armed idiots on the ground while he, Pepper, Rhodes and Sam took care of the choppers.

Tony dodged a missile from one of the choppers, promptly retaliating with a blast from his Nano Cannon, which materialized from his right hand and shot the chopper down in one blast, taking out a bunch of other idiots on the crash. He kept dodging the other missiles effortlessly, using the Nano Wings that materialized at his back to fly without using his hand thrusters to stabilize himself, so they were free to shoot down the missiles before they got too close.

Meanwhile, at the ground, Rogers and Romanoff were taking down goons left and right. He threw his shield at one of them, satisfied when it bounced from him to another one who was about to fire. The shield returned to him just as another goon fired a purple energy beam at him, stopping the blast from hitting the captain. He still got thrown back a little, leaving him open for another blast, but Natasha already had him at the ground with her legs around his neck before he could even think to pull the trigger. 

She snapped his neck and got up, immediately shooting a Widow’s Bite at the neck of another goon, before looking at him. He just nodded silently, getting no response, as she turned around to continue breaking men’s arms with her pinky finger.

Steve sighed. It wasn’t the same for the two of them for a long time now, since he told her what REALLY happened in Siberia. To say it was a miracle he was still alive was an understatement.

She loved Tony. They all did. And he screwed the guy up in the most horrible way he could imagine. It was no wonder she didn’t trust him anymore. 

He forced himself to not think about it before dodging another blast, immediately retaliating by throwing his shield at the weapon, hitting it’s core and making it explode, killing several goons at the same time. 

Rhodey took down another chopper, as Pepper flew around, bringing both her hands together as pieces of the suit came out of her back to her hands, forming a cannon, which shot a blue beam against a purple one that was shot directly against her, overpowering it and hitting the shooter, destroying him along with several other goons around him. She split the cannon it two, firing at all the directions while Rhodey came to fly behind her, covering her back and firing bullets, missiles and repulsor blasts at every guy he could find.

Peter web swinged around, effortlessly dodging several purple energy blasts aimed his way. He rolled back to the ground and threw two webs at the back of a goon who was trying to shoot Mr. Stark out of the sky, without much success. 

Spinning him around, Peter hit several other goons before throwing the one he was swinging around away. His Spider Sense flared, and he immediately backflipped and landed behind a goon who tried to slice him with a Chitauri spear. Two swift kicks to the guy’s back sent him flying.

Hope was shrinking and unshrinking constantly, hitting idiots left and right. She shot another one down with her Stingers, before flowing around and unshrinking in the air, coming in contact with a clueless goon who she wrapped her legs around, flipping around and sending him flying in the air, immediately unshrinking again. She saw Spider Man throw two webs at the guy and slam him back to the ground, and grinned.

Wanda wasn’t having much difficulty with this dunces, throwing them around the air or slamming them in the ground by simply waving her hands. She grabbed a goon and lifted him in the air, doing the same with several other ones and mashing them together, before slamming them all at the ground at once, being careful to not use enough force to kill them. She threw a red energy sphere at one of the choppers that were pursuing Sam, making it catch fire in the back and roll around dramatically. Tony caught it by the tail and slammed it against several other goons before it could fall on the ground. 

Sam was dodging bullets from the last chopper, now that Wanda and Tony dealt with the other one. He maneuvered until he was behind the chopper, then flew by the left side of it, which got sliced by his right wing, killing the pilot and promptly making the chopper go down. 

As all the choppers were dealt with and basically all of his men were already dead or unconscious, he yelled with rage. “STARK!” Ross screamed as short wings with little rockets on the sides sprouted from the back of his suit, and he took flight, flying straight into Tony who took him head on.

They rolled around in the air and hit the ground, rolling around with Ross stopping on top of Tony. “DIE!” He yelled, firing his cannon at Stark’s face, mouth dropping when it only made a superficial scratch, which immediately regenerated.

Tony pointed his fist at his face, which immediately morphed into a Nano Cannon. “My turn.” The genius said before firing, sending Ross flying spectacularly, before he hit the ground again, trying to get up.

“I think you’re exerting yourself a little too much, Teddy. C’mon, you have a heart condition!” He taunted as the bastard got up, armor dented and damaged at several places, mask half destroyed showing his ugly, bloodied face seeping with rage. 

“You’re dead!” He yelled before firing his repulsor, which Tony counteracted with his own, forming a cloud of smoke that threw Ross back.

“You said that six months ago!” Tony yelled sarcastically as he flew through the cloud of smoke before Ross could recover, using his Nano Wings to stabilize himself and put his foot thrusters together in front of him, morphing them into a single bigger thruster that glowed with blue energy.

He hit Ross head on, throwing him back while using the momentum to backflip back to the ground, morphing Foot Clamps at his feet to plant himself on it, then lifting both his arms and morphing them into Battering Rams, hitting the bastard with them and sending him flying to the ground, armor almost completely destroyed.

He waited while Ross shakily tried to get up, helmet now completely destroyed. He raised his cannon at him, but before he could even begin to charge, Tony had already crossed the distance between them, morphing a huge blade that took his entire right forearm and chopping Ross’s cannon down, along with his entire forearm.

He screamed in pain, and the genius didn’t let it get under his skin. ‘Now he finally knows a little of the pain that he put his victims through.’ He thought. 

Instead, he just groaned annoyed, morphing the blade into a bigger right hand, kind of like a boxing glove. “Uhh. Shut up!” He said while punching Ross’s cheek, shattering it and sending him skidding on the floor to his right.

He then pointed a tank missile at him, while the ex Secretary tried to get up, but to no avail. He was aware that the fighting was already over around him, and everyone was watching him, but he didn’t care. It was time for this bastard to go.

“W- Wait! H- how’re you going to explain this to the committee?!” Ross asked desperately, knowing that it wouldn’t work.

“Pretty sure the footage recorded from the front cameras of the Compound will be enough.” The genius remarked coldly before firing. 

He didn’t even have time to yell, as he got blown to hell in a second. Everyone approached as Tony fired the freezing agent from the Bleeding Edge’s gauntlets to stop the fire, revealing Ross’s burnt and mangled corpse. 

“Uh, I can’t look at that.” Peter said disgruntled, turning around to go back to the Compound. Shit. He shouldn’t have done this in front of the kid. 

Oh well, guess he’s going to have to deal with it when the world is not about to end. He stared blankly at Ross’s corpse as the Bleeding Edge retreated into it’s housing unit, feeling Rogers and Romanoff approach. 

They stared at it in silence as everyone else got back to the Compound, unable to look at all the bodies on the floor. “You didn’t have to do this, Tony.” Rogers said quietly, and he just looked down for a moment, laughing quietly.

“Yeah I did.” He said simply, patting Rogers and Romanoff’s shoulders gently before making his way back inside. He stopped in the middle of the way because of the Iron Legion approaching.

Ten suits dropped gracefully around the battlefield, with the Compound completely unharmed behind it thanks to the protective enchantments. 

“Need a few hands?” FRIDAY asked sheepishly, and Tony just shook his head. 

“That would be great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!!!!  
> Goddamnit this was satisfying. So, I took a Hulk villain, turned him into an Iron Man villain, and then I killed him. I have no regrets. Yup, this chapter is pretty much a copy of chapter 11 of Tony’s Girl, from Crosshairs. Only difference is that it is much better there, so you should probably go read it. Next chapter we’re finally getting into space! Fucking finally. Now that Ross’s dealt with, we can finally move on to the real threat. Expect some bonding time between Tony, Nat and Steve in the way to Xiaxu. Don’t worry. I won’t make it easy for them, but Tony won’t stay mad at them forever (although he probably should). Just to clarify. Tony doesn’t need to touch the housing unit to activate the Bleeding Edge. He just has to command the suit to form, and problem solved, kind of like the comics, it just isn’t inside his body. That’s how he can use only parts of the suit at a time, since he can command the nano particles to do anything he wants with his mind. Just clarifying it. Later Morons!


	5. Space

No one said anything for a long time after they were gathered in the secret lab, where the jet was located. How could they?

The Rogues couldn’t possibly feel more shocked and ashamed than they were feeling right now. Before Steve told them the truth, they fully believed that Tony had been an asshole and had worked with Ross to lock them up.

And now not only did they found out that he had helped to facilitate their rescue TREMENDOUSLY, he had just killed Ross as if he was just killing an insect. 

Not that Ross was much more than that, anyway.

They were surprised Tony hadn’t killed all of them as soon as they arrived at the Compound. HIS Compound, that he made for THEM. And they basically spat on his face as soon as things got complicated.

So they all decided to keep their mouths shut as Tony, Hope, Hank and FRIDAY, using the Iron Legion suits, checked everything on the jet to make absolutely sure it was ready.

The first thing Tony had done as soon as he got to the lab was check all of FRIDAY’s severs to purge every inch of Ross’s influence on them. His blood boiled just thinking about it. The simple fact that Ross had touched his baby girl was enough for him to want to bring the bastard back to life, only to kill him again right after.

He found some influence from some computers from the dark net on her servers, and immediately tracked their IP address, sending the authorities to their locations. The genius also didn’t waste time in reconnecting her back to the Compound, letting out a relieved sigh when the familiar Irish voice pronounced: “I’m back, Boss.”

He also didn’t waste time in checking her servers on the jet, seeing that they were intact, probably thanks to Strange’s enchantments running interference on any hacking attempts. He really hoped it would last the whole trip.

The jet was ready, loaded with everything they would need for almost a year in space. Food, water, fuel, internet connection, life support, communication systems, rooms for him, Hope, Rogers and Romanoff, bathrooms, and even a lounge where he had installed a flat screen TV with all the movies one could imagine installed. The PS4 installed there was just a coincidence.

  
What? The trip was going to take a while.

  
The navigation systems already calculated that it would take about 10 hours to get to Xiaxu, even in an insanely fast ship like his, and they would also stay in space for quite a while after rescuing the Guardians, so he packed all the entertainment he could inside of it.

He was excited; not only because he was finally going to meet the Guardians in person, but he also couldn’t wait to experience space travel first hand.

  
He was also terrified.

  
It shouldn’t be surprising, he should have prepared himself better for this, but unfortunately it was happening. Last time he had been in space he had almost died while staring to an imminent threat that was sure going to come back some day, while falling to what would probably be his end.

It wasn’t a great experience.

But he had to remind himself that this time was different. He was prepared this time, as prepared as anyone could be.

He had an insanely overpowered jet with enough supplies to sustain about ten people for about a year, his armor now could withstand the vacuum of space without any problems, and he had also packed several other suits inside the jet for spare, and he wasn’t alone this time.

He had Hope, one of his best friends, and his baby girl, FRIDAY. Unfortunately, Rogers and Romanoff would be there too.

He tried to tell himself that now wasn’t the time to hold grudges, that the universe was at stake here, but every time he tried to bring himself to forgive them, to actually give a rat shit about their apologies, all he heard was:

  
‘Sometimes my teammates don’t tell me things.’

‘Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?’

  
Fuck them both.

  
He already did much more than he owed them, warning them and smuggling them back to the States, to his Compound, so they could be prepared when the threat arrived to Earth.

  
He did it for Earth. Not for any of them.

  
God, he was only human. They distrusted him, laughed at him, used his resources, looked down on him, betrayed him, and one of them had even beaten him to a bloody pulp and left him to die in the cold.

  
How does he simply FORGETS all of that?

  
Well, it doesn’t matter. He was gonna have to tolerate them enough to at least work with them. At least Rogers and Romanoff.

  
The two he hated the most.

  
He willed his face to not let any of his conflicting emotions show as he approached the Rogues, who were sitting around the lab with distraught expressions on each of their faces.

  
At least they realized their screw up.

  
“Alright, everything is ready. We leave in ten.” The billionaire said casually as he stood in front of them, making them all look at him.

“Strange’s coming to get you in a few minutes, so you can talk to Vision, so stay ready. He can make... weird entrances.” He continued, addressing Wanda, who was cleaning up a cut in her left arm made by a Chitauri staff, from a bastard who got a lucky shot before she took him down.

“Thank you.” She said sincerely, her eyes shining with thankfulness and gratefulness. He couldn’t help but get a little flustered and hide it behind a casual shrug. “How’s that treating you?” Tony asked, pointing at her wound, not even knowing why he gave a shit. She wouldn’t have.

“It’s fine. Just a scratch. The suit you made me absorbed the impact. Thanks again.” She said, offering a small smile. He got flustered again.

“It’s fine, geez. You don’t need to thank me for everything, I’m a billionaire remember?” He said casually as he walked over to her, gently lifting her upper left arm and lifting his other hand, nano particles crawling out of the chest piece to form a gauntlet on it, and he immediately sprayed her wound with some medical spray to help it heal faster.

Tony ignored their looks of astonishment, as he simply walked away from them to talk to his real friends, as the gauntlet disappeared from his hand back to the housing unit.

Wanda stared at the wound, seeing that it was healing much faster than before as if some invisible force was taking care of it. She couldn’t help but feel disgusted with herself.

She had blamed him for her parents deaths all her life, and for what her life had become after. Then she, along with Pietro, subjected themselves to those human scums of HYDRA, knowing full well who they were, and allowed them to make horrible experiments on them both.

After she gained her powers, she felt like she was finally going to have her revenge, that she would finally make him suffer like he made her suffer. She manipulated his mind, made him see his worst nightmare, something she was sure plagued him until this day.

She gave him the push to create Ultron, and Pietro payed the price for it.

After everything was said and done, she wanted to blame him for everything again, for creating Ultron and taking yet another member of her family from her.

But a voice in her head always kept whispering: ‘If you hadn’t messed with his mind, none of this would’ve happened.’

The worst part is that, even with everything she did against him, he took the full responsibility for Ultron, even though she knew very well that he could out her and send her to prison at anytime.

That’s probably one of the main reasons he signed the Accords.

Once again, the bad shit that happened in her life was her own fault.

She tried to tell herself that he deserved that guilt, that he owed her for everything he did to her, but Rhodey had promptly put her in her place, presenting her irrefutable evidence that the missiles that hit her home, the missiles that destroyed her and her brother’s lives, were copies sold illegally on the black market, under Tony’s nose.

Even worse, the guy who was selling said weapons to the black market-to the bastards that ACTUALLY murdered her parents-was Obadiah Stane, Tony’s godfather.

And he had killed him. His own godfather, someone who he knew since he was born.

She honestly didn’t want to even begin to imagine how he must have felt when he found out.

But even after all that, she never became friends with him. It was almost instinctive, she hated him for her whole life. It was difficult to simply let that feeling go all of a sudden.

Apparently, Tony understood that, because he maintained his distance. He made her a battle suit, gave her a home, and never asked for anything in return. But even then, they just remained neutral.

And then the Civil War happened, and she threw everything he had given her at his face, because she was friends with Steve. Steve, who had welcomed her to the Avengers without a moment of hesitation, while all the others were understandably wary of her. Who comforted her for Lagos when the whole world wanted her head.

Now that she thought about it, Tony also tried to protect her from the world. That’s why he had her on kind of house arrest. Tony Stark, the person that had the least reason to help her in the whole world, had given her a new life just as much as Steve did.

And she abandoned him without a second of hesitation, not even thinking about everything he had done for her. Steve had to be right. Steve was ALWAYS right. He was Captain America, he was her friend.

  
That’s until she found out what happened in Siberia.

  
She... She would never be able to look at Steve the same way after that. None of them would, not even Sam, who had been his friend and stayed at his side during this whole ordeal.

Tony had seen his parents getting murdered, right in front of him, while the supposed ‘killer’ was standing five feet away from him.

  
She would have snapped too.

  
And now, seeing the care that he showed her, even when it was clear that he didn’t want anything to do with them, she realized that maybe, she had chosen the wrong side.

If Tony ever wanted anything to do with her again, which she didn’t expect in the slightest, she would make sure nobody would ever hurt him like that EVER again.

Her train of thoughts were interrupted when, out of nowhere, orange sparks appeared, extending into a PORTAL, where the same man Tony had shown them into the hologram, with the cape and all that, stepped through it, along with another man dressed like a monk, and, surprisingly, the King of Wakanda himself, along with his sister.

Everyone was on guard in seconds, but Tony immediately defused the tension when he causally walked to the guy and shook his hand, grinning all the way.

“Ready for us to do something incredibly stupid?” The genius asked the sorcerer, who smirked. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Tony then turned to the other sorcerer. “Wong, tell me, how annoying has this guy been this month?” Wong smirked as well. “Very.” He said simply, earning an indignant scoff from said sorcerer.

Everyone besides Tony’s team stared with their eyes widening further and further by the second, as the red cloak that Strange used suddenly FLOATED out of his shoulders to Tony, shaking his hand.

“Missed you too, bud. We’ll play chess again once the universe isn’t about to end.” He said casually, and the Cloak appeared to be satisfied, since it floated back to Strange’s shoulders.

“Tony, it’s good to see you.” T’Challa said, smiling fondly, offering his hand, which Tony promptly shook. “Good to see you too Kit Kat. How’s the secret kingdom going?” The billionaire asked, as if he casually talked with the King of Wakanda every other day.  
Apparently, he did, since T’Challa only smiled wider. “Very good, as always. I see you’re finally going to move with your plan.” He said, nodding towards the jet.

“Yup, here goes nothing. You know the drill, right?” Tony asked seriously, and T’Challa nodded with certainty, before Tony’s gaze turned to Shuri, who was also grinning widely.

“Hey there mini Kit Kat, how’s JOCASTA treating you?” He asked fondly, and her smile grew even more. “She’s amazing, almost amazing enough for me to admit that you are smarter than I thought you were. ALMOST.” The Princess said sarcastically, and they both giggled, as T’Challa grabbed a suitcase.

“Here’s the Vibranium you’ll need. Use it carefully my friend.” The King warned as the genius grabbed the suitcase, rolling his eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t make anything stupid. Most likely.” He said, grinning, as he walked towards the jet to store the Vibranium in his room.

The Rogues couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They had just seen Tony Stark casually talk with two wizards, shake a sentient cloak’s ‘hand’ and promise to play chess with it, AGAIN, then spoke to the King of Wakanda, the Black fucking Panther, and his sister, like they were old friends who saw each other constantly.

  
They gave VIBRANIUM to him.

  
Lord knows how protective they are of that thing. A lot of things sure change in six months. They were relieved that at least it changed for the better for the genius.

He descended from the jet, walking towards the King again. “Guys, I- I can’t thank you enough for-“ Tony started, but was promptly cut off by the Black Panther.

“Don’t. If it weren’t for the partnership that your company extended to our country, we would still be lost without knowing what to do right now. You certainly don’t owe us anything.” The King reassured, smiling gratefully, promptly making Tony get flustered and try to cover it by casualness and annoyance.

Well, that explained a lot. Not that it was surprising that he helped as soon as he had the opportunity.

“Yeah, well, thanks anyway. I don’t even know what kind of suit Rocket and I will be able to make with this. For all I know I’ll be able to create black holes out of my hands.” The genius said, making Shuri grin.

“The first thing you do when this is over, is bring him to Wakanda, you hear me?” She demanded without any heat, leaving no room for argument. Tony just shrugged. “Don’t blame me if he blows up the whole country.”

“The jet’s ready.” Hank said, walking out of it with his daughter alongside him, with a few of the Iron Legion suits leaving as well. Tony turned to him and nodded, before turning back to his new friends.

“Duty calls. Don’t die. Seriously.” He warned all of them, making them all smile, as they all shook hands at the same time.

Strange then turned to the Rogues, specifically at Maximoff. “I assume you’re the Scarlet Witch?” He asked neutrally, and she nodded.

“You can just call me Wanda.” She said politely, and he nodded, jerking his head for her to follow him. She immediately slipped the red jacket of her battle suit on, nodding towards her friends, before following Strange through the portal. They both nodded at Tony before the portal closed.

Wong promptly made a circling movement with his hand, opening another one, this time to Wakanda. “The ones that won’t go with Tony, follow me.” T’Challa said, nodding at Tony as well, before stepping through the portal with Shuri.

“Don’t die you dumbass!” She yelled before disappearing out of view. “You too you brat!” The genius yelled back, grin never leaving his face.

Pepper, Rhodey, Peter and Sam approached Tony, while Hank bid his goodbyes to his daughter, knowing full well it might be the last time he sees her.

“Well, this is it. I would say for you guys to not do anything stupid, but who am I kidding?” They all rolled their eyes fondly at that.

Rhodey hugged Tony, armor and all, and he seriously thanked Extremis for making him so resistant. They just smiled at each other, communicating with their eyes, before the War Machine stepped through the portal as well, Sam following him closely, not daring to look at the technopath.

Peter stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do in that situation. Tony just snorted. “God you’re too bright. You’re blinding me.” He said sarcastically, placing his arm in front of his face for dramatic purposes, while walking to the kid and giving him a hug.

Peter froze, mind probably racing about how he was being hugged by Tony fucking Stark, and how he probably didn’t deserve it and how he was so lucky and about a million more self depreciating thoughts. It made Tony really sad, that this amazing kid thought so little of himself, but this was something the kid had to figure out on his own.

He let go, staring affectionately at the kid, who was staring back at him with the eyes of his mask widened to the limit. “Alright, get out of here. Go be a hero. If Rhodey tell me you disobeyed him and decided to throw yourself at a spaceship or something like that, I’ll bench you so fast that you won’t know what hit you.”

Tony was pretty sure that Romanoff and Rogers were staring at him right now, but he honestly didn’t care. He could deal with their lectures about bringing a minor to the field later.

Peter stuttered. “Y- Yeah! Yeah, I promise, Mr. Stark. Don’t worry, I won’t screw this up. Huh... thanks... for everything, I guess. Uh, bye.” He ranted awkwardly, and he couldn’t help but smile fondly, as the teen webbed himself towards the portal, going through it with the grace of a spider.

Hank walked up to him and patted his shoulder, giving him a knowing look that said: Protect her, Don’t die. The genius nodded, and the other genius nodded back, going through the portal as well.

This just left Pepper. Strong, incredible, beautiful, love of his life Pepper. He really wished he could take her with him, but if anything happened to her... he didn’t know if he would be able to live with himself after. They had agreed early on that she was a liability to him, and would only serve to persuade anyone who wanted information from the genius, and Rescue was also a heavy hitter. She had to stay here. Also, she was the fucking CEO of Stark Industries. Tony was already going to space. If she left too it would be chaos.

  
It didn’t make this shit any fucking easier.

  
She smiled at him, eyes full of sadness and understanding, as she gave him a kiss, quick but passionate, and stared at his eyes, and he knew right then, he would do EVERYTHING to come back to her.

“Will that be all, Mr. Stark?” She asked knowingly, and he couldn’t help but laugh. “That will be all, Ms. Potts.” She smiled one last time, before walking past him, entering the portal, which Wong closed after he went through it as well, leaving Tony, Hope, Rogers and Romanoff alone.

He sighed. “Well, I guess this is it. C’mon.” Tony addressed his two ex friends, nodding towards the jet. They looked at him for a moment before getting up, grabbing their weaponry and walking towards the jet. Before they could get in, however, FRIDAY interrupted.

“Wait Boss, there’s a proximity alert.” She warned, and they all immediately stopped in their tracks, gripping their weapons tighter. “Ah for fuck’s sake! Who is it now?” He asked annoyed, but the response managed to at least surprise him.

“It’s Fury. Requesting permission to land.” The spy’s voice came through the ceiling, and Tony’s blood boiled for the tenth time that day. Great, another asshole who knew a life changing secret and didn’t tell him. He honestly should have expected it. And if he was here, that means Hill would be following right behind him. He didn’t know if he would be able to hold himself enough to not do something stupid, but he couldn’t deny the fact that he was curious.

Why were they here, just before he went to space? That couldn’t be a coincidence.

He looked questioningly at Romanoff, but she just shrugged, so either she really didn’t know or she was lying. It was most likely the latter, but fuck it, he wasn’t the one to make sensate decisions anyway.

“Hey Nick. Fancy that you are coming right at this moment. You know I could take you out of the sky with a thought right?” The technopath asked through Extremis.

“No you can’t. Sharon’s with us.” Fury said, and he could practically HEAR the smirk on his voice. Tony’s heart skipped a beat.

  
Share-Bear was here. This was bad.

  
They haven’t seen or contacted each other since the whole Civil War fiasco, and Tony already knew she had helped Steve and his team at the time.

He knew she was afraid that he would be mad at her, and she couldn’t be more wrong. Of course Tony was angry at first, but he realized that Steve had probably played her too.

She couldn’t have possibly known that Steve would use the shield that she gave him to slam Tony’s chest, and also, she was probably his third favorite person in the world. He knew her since he was fifteen. He held her in his arms when she was a baby. He spent a lot of time with her after his parents died, and Aunt Peggy had pretty much taken him to her home for a while. He loved Sharon, and Sharon loved him. He couldn’t stay mad at her even if he wanted too.

Also, unlike some people, (cough, Natasha, cough) she probably didn’t know the truth about his parents. If she had, she would NEVER have kept the truth from him. That he knew for sure.

It occurred to Tony then that Natasha probably thought Steve had already told him the truth. That would explain her wanting to strangle him with her tights, and the general coldness she was showing towards the Super Soldier.

It wasn’t enough to forgive her yet... but he definitely would keep that on top of his mind.

That’s when he decided: Fuck it. “Permission granted. Come to the secret lab where I am now. You probably already know where it is, since you know everything apparently.” Tony rambled, and Fury sighed, before answering. “On my way.”

He turned back towards the three occupants of the room, who were staring at him expectantly, since he basically was just standing still with his eyes glowing blue. “Get ready. We have three spies coming.”

5 minutes later, said three spies came through the holographic wall like it was the most simple thing in the world, although Share-Bear looked a little startled. Just wait until she saw the Bleeding Edge.

“Look if it isn’t Nicholas motherfucking Fury and his band of angry amazons! Tell me, what can I do for you?” He asked innocently, as if there wasn’t an intergalactic jet right behind him.

Fury just narrowed his eye at him like he always did, while Sharon and Hill looked like they were trying to contain their amusement.

“I see you've got quite a task in your hands, Stark. Enough for you to take those two with you.” He stated, looking at both his ex agents with a disapproving glare, in which even Natasha cowed under it.

“Oh, they’re not the only ones I’m pissed at right now.” The billionaire said in a dangerously low voice, which made clear that they knew what he was talking about.

“We didn’t want to put pressure on Rogers. We thought he would tell you.” Fury said, and Tony just scoffed, looking at Natasha.

“God, you two really are alike, aren’t you?” He said with venom dripping in his voice, making Natasha look even smaller than she already was. He then brought his gaze back to Fury and his amazons.

“You didn’t want to inconvenience him, but I guess it was okay to inconvenience me right? As long as I kept my mouth shut and my wallet open, everything was fine.” He was really holding himself to not activate the Bleeding Edge and blast everything in the room.

“We did what was in the best interest of the team as a whole, I’m sure you understand that.” Fury challenged, narrowing his eye even more. Tony just scoffed. He also noticed that Hill matched his scoff. That was definitely something.

“Oh yeah, of course you did, but unlike my case, no-one fucked with your brain and made you see your worst nightmare, but now that everything went to shit because nobody listened to me, I’m just supposed to deal with it? Tell me Nick, what stops me from using this to blast you to oblivion right now?” The genius threatened as nano particles  
crawled out of the housing unit to encase his whole right arm, which morphed into a Nano Cannon crackling with white blue energy.

Rogers and Romanoff wisely kept their mouths shut during this. Guess getting hit by the Bleeding Edge’s repulsor blasts wasn’t a thing they wanted to go through again.

Fury didn’t waver or flinch in the slightest, but he could see that his eye widened just a little. He clearly wasn’t expecting the suit to be like this. Or the threat, or maybe both.

Hill’s eyes widened way more visibly, and Sharon actually took a step back, thinking he was actually gonna use it at her. In any other day, this would be enough for him to stop himself and calm down.

  
This wasn’t any other day though.

  
“Is that supposed to scare us?” Fury asked, voice not wavering in the slightest, and Tony just blinked. “Yeah, you’re right, maybe I should use this.” He said as the cannon morphed into the arm length blade that he used to cut Ross’s arm off.

  
Fury’s eye widened more visibly now.

  
“Or this.” He said as the Nano Blade morphed into a hammer that had several contours of white blue light. “Or maybe this.” The hammer changed into a spiky ball, the spikes powered with electricity that ran through each other constantly.

“Or how about this?” The spiky ball changed into the boxing glove from before. “Or maybe this one here.” The boxing glove changed into an Energy Blade.

“Or this one-“ “I’m not your enemy, Tony.” Fury cuts him off before he can generate another weapon that could probably kill everyone in the room in less than a minute. Tony just glared at him, seeing Sharon staring at him in awe and fear from the corner of his eye, while Hill looks the same as Sharon, but much more well concealed.

  
He called him Tony. He never did that before.

  
The genius shakes his head then, making the Energy Mallet that had morphed disappear and crawl back to the chest piece. “You know what, I don’t have time for this, what do you want. I’m kind of busy.” He asks in not so passive-aggressive mode.

“I want to help you. I know what you’re about to deal with, and even I’ll admit that we all royally screwed up by not listening to you all this years.” Tony couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised when he said that. “That’s why I brought you something.” The spy’s hand came out of his jacket, which Tony didn’t even realize it was there, and revealed something that made his heart skip several beats.

“Say hello to Goose.” He said smirking, presenting the cat to them, which turned into a frown when Tony scrambled back in shock, trying to find his words.

  
When they came, it wasn’t what Fury was expecting.

  
“How the fuck did you get Carol’s cat?!” The technopath exclaimed in shock, and now every eye in the room was on him, specifically Fury’s.

“How do you know Carol?” He asked, narrowing his eye suspiciously in the way that usually made anyone squirm in fear. Not Tony though.

“How do YOU know Carol?! She’s-“ The genius cut himself off, a devastated expression crossing his face for just a second, before it was gone.

“I met her in 95, when she was chasing aliens here on Earth.” Fury said bluntly, and Tony’s face went blank, while everyone else continued to stare at them.

“Ok Nick, I think you were kind of drunk, because she was dead at the time, so-“ “She didn’t die, she was kidnapped by an alien race and brainwashed to believe she was one of them.” Tony’s face went even blanker.

“Ok, now I’m pretty sure you were crazy.” He said bluntly, and Fury grunted. “If you think I’m lying, how do you explain this?” The spy asked, lifting Goose in front of Tony, who flinched away again.

“For all I know you could have kidnapped it. Carol wasn’t exactly her owner, it was Wendy’s. She just loved both of us enough to let us play with her all the time.” Tony explained, and Fury’s eye widened slightly.

“You seem to know her pretty well...” He drawled out. Tony sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Yeah, well, Rhodey knew her first, from the Air Force, and introduced us to each other. The rest is history.” He purposely trailed off, and Fury nodded in understanding, absentmindedly petting Goose.

“If you knew her, then you know about Monica.” Fury suddenly said, and Tony’s head snapped up to look at the spy, whose face showed that he was clearly serious.

“You know Monica?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper, because this couldn’t be a lie if he knew her. “We went to her after we realized what we had to do. Goose was with us the whole time. She’s... special.” Fury said, and Tony briefly wondered what he meant, but quickly dismissed in the favor of a much more pressing matter.

“If she was alive, then why didn’t she come to me and Rhodey?” He didn’t like to sound so vulnerable, specially not in front of fucking Nick Fury, but he couldn’t help it. He had been betrayed too many times already. Last thing he needed is for her to not consider him her friend anymore.

“She had amnesia from her brainwashing, that’s why she thought she was fighting the right side all along. Turns out the Skrulls were the good guys and the Kree were the asshole ones.” He said with no small amount of disdain, and Tony, Hope, Steve and Natasha’s heads snapped up to look at him at the same time.

“Did you just say Kree?” Steve asked hesitantly, and Fury looked at him suspiciously. “Yeah, why?”

“Because the place we’re going is surrounded by them.” Natasha said, loud enough for everyone to hear, although she was looking worriedly at Tony, who was trying not to shake but failing miserably. 

“You’re not lying. She really is alive...” He muttered, and Fury nodded. Then, Tony asked the killer question. “Where’s she now?” Fury just shrugged.

“Who knows? She didn’t come back to Earth since I met her. She gave me a pager to call her in emergency occasions, but it didn’t happen so...” Everyone’s eyes widened at that.

“You’re saying alien invasions and murder bots aren’t counted as emergency occasions?” Hope asked incredulously, and he just glared at her. “Earth has to show it can stand in it’s own two feet, Miss Van Dyne. Calling her here would have attracted a lot of attention. Besides, there’re a lot of other planets in the universe, and she’s guarding a lot of them. She doesn’t have time to drop everything and come here.” He explained coldly, and Tony saw that he wasn’t exactly happy with that particular fact.

“So she’s basically the space version of the Avengers? But solo and protects a lot of planets instead of one... Rhodey’s gonna be so jealous.” He said while burying his face in his hands, more to himself than to anyone else in the room. He was pretty sure Rhodey and Carol had something happening between them. He will never forget the look on Rhodey and Monica’s faces when they got the news.

He wiped his eyes discreetly and realized that both his hands were covered by his armor. It wasn’t surprising, thanks to Extremis, he could communicate with the Bleeding Edge and any other suit as if it was another person, an extension of him. It knew what Tony wanted, and the genius felt slightly better because of it. He shook his arms as the suit crawled back to the chest piece, ignoring the incredulous looks from the three ex SHIELD agents in front of him.

“I believe in you.” He couldn’t believe he said that to NICK FURY of all people. “But you’re gonna have to explain the part where she’s supposed to help us to save the universe.” The technopath continued, pointing at Goose.

The one eyed asshole just smirked. “Oh, you’ll know when the time comes. Trust me, you’ll want to take her with you.” He said, handing Tony the cat. He held her with infinite tenderness, as he always had done all those years ago.

She immediately started purring, clearly happy to see him again. Carol liked to pet her sometimes but him and Rhodey completely cooed over her. “Thank you.” He said sincerely, surprised when the words left his mouth. Fury just nodded, empathy in his gaze as he put a hand on his shoulder.

“We believe in you Tony. All of us.” He gave him another reassuring squeeze before letting go, walking out of the room. Hill smiled at him, walking up to him and wrapping him in a quick hug, before disappearing from the room as well.

Well, wasn’t Tony shocked. He had just gotten more physical contact from the two agents in the last five minutes than in the last five years. He knew Hill liked him a lot (even though she would never admit it under the threat of torture and/or death), since he and Pepper had done everything in their power to grant her a position in Stark Industries where she would be having a similar role as she had on SHIELD, but he hadn’t thought that they were on hug level yet.

Well, he wasn’t complaining. She was probably following Fury’s orders in not telling him. She did look pissed at something after the whole Insight thing. It couldn’t be a coincidence that she came to work in his company just like that, even if she was keeping an eye on him for Fury.

Part of him wondered if the sole reason that she decided to take the assignment to work in the SI was to get AWAY from Fury for a while.

He also wasn’t expecting Fury to be so sincere with him, because when he said that everyone believed in him, Tony knew that he meant it. Somehow, he just knew it.

That just left Sharon, who was staring at him with big, beautiful, brown and guilty eyes. “Sharon-“

“I’m sorry.” She said hastily before walking out of the room, eyes already welling up, and Tony sighed. Now wasn’t the time for a heart-to-heart with her, but it would have been nice to talk. God, he missed her so much.

“Didn’t know you two knew each other.” Rogers said hesitantly, and his blood boiled. “Aunt Peggy was my godmother, that’s all you need to know.” He said coldly as he entered the jet with Goose snuggled against his chest, trying REALLY hard to not punch Rogers in the face for causing his favorite cousin any sort of distress.

He settled her on the ground, as FRIDAY already had a suit grabbing supplies to feed a cat for the whole trip. He then settled on the cockpit, pressing a few commands and checking the systems one last time.

  
Warp Engines online.  
Communication Systems online.  
Fuel in maximum capacity.  
Force Fields in maximum capacity.  
Internet Connection established.  
FRIDAY OS online.  
Mark 43, Mark 45, Mark 46, Mark 47 and Mark 48 aboard and functional.  
Stealth Suits aboard and functional.   
Containment for the Infinity Stones aboard and functional.  
Ready for launch.

“Let’s do this.” The genius said as the Bleeding Edge wrapped around him, just for safety measures. He disengaged the helmet to look at the three other occupants of the jet, while Goose came up to sit on the dash, right in front of him, and FRIDAY dropped the supplies needed for her in his room.

“Who here hasn’t been to space?” They all awkwardly lifted their hands. He grinned. “Newbies.”

They all rolled their eyes at that, matching his grin. He tore his gaze away from them to look at his friend’s cat, trying to hide the overwhelming pain that he felt just looking at her.

He knew there was a good chance that he would bump into her in space. With his luck she would probably end up saving his ass at some point.

  
He honestly didn’t know if he wanted to meet her again or not.

  
The billionaire petted the special cat, still trying to figure out what was so special about her.

“Scans indicate nothing, Boss. She’s just a cute normal cat.” FRIDAY said in his head, somehow sounding honest about finding her cute, and he shrugged. “Well, guess we’ll figure out in time.” The technopath answered in Extremis.

“FRIDAY, get this party rolling.” He said out loud this time, and the AI immediately answered. “Activating To Infinity and Beyond Protocol.”

Rogers and Romanoff couldn’t help but snort at that, as the ceiling opened above them and the jet slowly lifted off the ground.

“Really, Tony?” Natasha asked, amusement dripping in her tone. “Shut up. I can name my protocols whatever I want.” He snapped, quietly and without any heat, which definitely surprised her if her eyes were anything to go by.

The jet finally started flying, gaining altitude quickly and reaching space without any troubles. He sucked in a breath at that.

  
Space was BEAUTIFUL.

  
He could see Mars from afar, and millions of stars, but all he could think about was: I can’t breath, I can’t breath, I CAN’T BREATH-

“Tony!” Hope’s voice brought him back to reality, and he saw them all looking at him with immense worry on their faces. He took a deep breath, letting the Bleeding Edge go back to it’s place.

“I’m good... I’m good.” The genius said slowly, trying to purge the flashbacks out of his mind. “Is there anything we can do?” Rogers asked, and Tony couldn’t bring himself to snap at him when he was only trying to help.

“We need to contact the Guardians. Don’t worry, pretty sure I got this.” The technopath reassured, using Extremis to establish a connection with The Milano, getting it in seconds.

“Stark!” Rocket’s voice came through the coms, and he immediately felt a lot better. “Hey fur face. We’re on our way now.” Tony started, and another voice joined the conversation.

“What happened? You guys missed your time stamp for about two hours.” Quill asked curiously. “Ross decided to give us a little parting party, so I parted him of this existence.” He explained casually, truly not caring if he killed that scumbag or not.

“YES! Finally something good happened in the last six months!” Rocket cheered, and Rogers and Romanoff were understandably wary of him already.

Another voice joined the conversation. “Is that Tony?” Gamora asked softly, and he grinned. “Hey Green Meanie. Ready to be rescued in a super badass way?” The genius asked smugly, and he could feel her rolling her eyes fondly at him.

“These idiots are lucky I haven’t killed all of them yet. I would hurry up if I were you, Stark.” The fiercest woman in the galaxy answered, and Romanoff was slightly smirking now.

“I like her.” She commented. The attention immediately shifted to her. “Which one of the assholes is that?” Rocket asked in a bored tone, and Tony shrugged.

“Gamora’s Earth version, but blonde and not green.” He said casually, and Gamora huffed. “There isn’t anyone like me on any planet, I assure you of that.” She said in a completely confident tone, and Natasha was starting to REALLY like her.

“Dully noted Green. Look, we’ll reach you guys in about ten hours. Don’t die in the mean time, by the love of god, this ship took a long time to make.” He said sarcastically as they approached the jump point.

“Sure, take your time. It’s not like we’ve been stranded here for six months or anything like that.” Rocket muttered annoyed, although he knew him well enough to know he wasn’t annoyed at him.

“I am Groot.” Yet another voice joined the conversation, and Tony grinned even wider. “I am being nice! What, you want me to purr at them? Geez.” Came Rocket’s annoyed reply.

“We’re approaching the jump point guys. I’ll contact you later.” Tony warned. “Got it. Stay safe man. I still need to see Footloose again.” Quill said, and Tony could hear the smile on his voice.

“I already told you, it isn’t and never was the greatest movie in the whole history, get over it.” Hope chimed in, and Steve and Natasha were grinning openly now.

“You take that ba-“ “Bye!” Tony cut him off before he could start another Footloose related rant. Those took a while to finish. They entered the portal, and warped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAND CUUUUUUT!   
> That’s it for now. I know there wasn’t much Space in this, but I just had some spontaneous ideas in my head all of a sudden. Yes, Tony and Rhodey were friends with Carol before she became Captain Marvel and you can’t change that. Fuck you if you think differently. Next chapter we will see more interactions with the Guardians and also some Earth stuff. Later Morons.


	6. Trust

“So, if we could get our hands on the Aether, we could probably make that happen, so if I were you I would drag my ass here already so we could start working on it.” Rocket’s hologram ranted, and Tony grinned, sitting on the floor of his room.

He really wanted to sleep, but trying to sleep in space for him was the same thing as jumping in a hole full of nightmares inside, so he contacted Rocket and discussed the details of Mark 51 with him while they were on their way to Xiaxu.

“Maybe if you had given me better instructions to build the warp drives I would already be there, so honestly you can only blame yourself.” The genius shrugged, and Rocket bristled.

“Don’t even get me started, Stark!” The Raccoon warned, pointing one of his little fingers at him, and Tony couldn’t help but chuckle, until the conversation was cut off abruptly by a yell from Rocket.

“What the hell?!” The engineer suddenly yelled, and Tony was immediately on his feet, the Bleeding Edge wrapped around him.

“What happened, did they found you?” He asked, feeling an intense sense of dread that he didn’t know he could feel for someone who he only knew by holograms.

“No, that, you moron!” Rocket yelled, pointing at Goose, who had just entered the room. Tony blinked, as the Bleeding Edge disappeared. Then, his face slowly morphed into a grin.

“Oh, please tell me that you aren’t afraid of a cat.” He asked as the raccoon backed up from the cat, despite the fact that he wasn’t even physically there to begin with. “That’s not a cat, that’s a FLERKIN!”

Tony blinked again, looking at Goose, who looked at him innocently, waving her tail. “Huh. Fury told me she was special.” The genius commented, and Rocket got even more agitated.

“This thing is not special, it’s a monster! It can kill an entire squad and you would never see it coming! Throw it at space or something dude! Anything!” The poor raccoon ranted, and Tony had to hold himself not to laugh.

  
Well that explained a lot.

  
“Relax, she’s from a friend. Pretty sure she’ll only attack the squads that try to kill us.” Tony reassured. Rocket didn’t look convinced at all.

“Maybe you trust too easily.” He commented, and Tony tried, REALLY HARD, not to flinch. Rocket realized his screw up anyway.

“Oh- oh man, I’m sorry I-“ “It’s okay, trust me, I know how it is to have your foot in your mouth most of the time.” Tony reassured, and the raccoon visibly relaxed, chuckling a little.

“Ok, as long as it doesn’t come near me I won’t kill it. Probably.” Tony giggled at that, unable to maintain a straight face in front of this amazing being.

“As long as she scares you, she stays. Right Goose?” He asked smugly, and the cat came closer to him, settling beside the genius. Rocket visibly tensed again.

“Okay, I think it’s time for me to go. See ya, bye!” He said frantically and the hologram immediately cut off, and Tony’s grin never left his face.

“That was cute.” A voice said from his door, and he had a Nano Cannon pointed at whoever it was in a second, Goose standing defensively beside him.

Natasha only raised her eyebrows at him, knowing he wouldn’t shoot. He wasn’t. Doesn’t mean he would remain unprotected from her though. The cannon disappeared, but his arm remained covered by his suit as she sat by his side. Not too close but not too far.

“Can’t sleep?” She asked softly. A day ago he would have told her that it wasn’t her business and left the room. But he remembered that it wasn’t all her fault, and he needed to work with her on the middle of all this clusterfuck, so he instead replied: “Something like that.”

She hummed, looking ahead, absentmindedly petting Goose, who realized she wasn’t hostile. “I owe you an apology.” She started, and he grimaced. He didn’t want this, not right now. He hated talking about feelings. But damnit this was Romanoff. He would never leave this room without using force if she didn’t want to.

“You kind of already apologized multiple times, so no.” He replied, but she wasn’t having it. “Did you listen to any of them?” The assassin asked, her voice as soft as always, and he grimaced.

“I’m still mad Nat. Give me a break.” He said apologetically, avoiding her gaze. Which was a shame since he missed her small smile at her nickname being used by him again, which immediately disappeared.

“With good reason.” She said in a sad voice, and he sighed again. Great, at least she wasn’t trying to act like she was right in this, unlike another certain spy.

“You betrayed me Nat. Again. I already gave you another chance after you dared to infiltrate my life when I was fucking dying and made judgements about me, and then when I finally though we were good, that we were FAMILY, you jumped ships right when I needed you most. How can I simply forgive that?” He asked, voice not carrying any anger, just hurt and sadness.

Natasha seemed to get smaller than he ever thought possible, and looked down for a while, before directing her gaze back at him. “You shouldn’t. I’m just asking for you to listen to me.”

She took his silence as invitation to continue. “After SHIELD fell, the Avengers were all I had left. When I found out about your parents, I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you would understandably get angry, and it would have torn the team apart. That’s why I trusted Steve to tell you. I really didn’t think I could bring myself to do it.” She explained, and Tony felt a momentary surge of anger.

“I still had the fucking right to know, Nat.” He said in a dangerously low voice, and she seemed to get even smaller.

“You had, Tony, you had. And I, Rogers, Fury and Hill are all assholes for not telling you, ESPECIALLY after everything you’ve done for us. I just- I was scared. That’s also why I let Rogers and Barnes go at Leipzig. None of you were backing down and I made the choice that would have kept most people safe. If I only knew what a mistake that was...” The assassin trailed off, looking down, her eyes becoming wet.

Tony was still bitter. VERY BITTER. But he could see where she was coming from.

“You didn’t know he hadn’t told me Nat, it’s not your fault.” He said softly, placing his armored hand on her shoulder.

“That’s the thing, I should have known! I should have known he would have been a selfish asshole and kept quiet about it. I just bought a little too much on the living legend of Captain America, and I- I’m sorry Tony, that was... that was a mistake.” She admitted miserably, still not letting her tears fall.

  
Now that was a surprise.

  
The Black Widow didn’t make mistakes, much less admitted that she made them. So for Natasha to admit it, to him of all people... it was really bad.

“No one’s perfect Nat. You couldn’t have known. It’s just-“ He took a deep breath, trying to steel himself. “It hurt, Nat. It hurt like hell when you went away. Rhodey was crippled, Vision was devastated, and I was-“ He stopped himself before he could say something that he didn’t really want her to know, not yet.

She seemed to take the hint. “I know. I’m really sorry Tony. I should have never said that to you. If I had known that you helped at the RAFT breakout I would have came back, but-“ Tony interrupted, because THAT, that wasn’t a mistake.

“No, don’t even go there. I don’t know what I would have done if I had seen you again. The wound was still too fresh. I would probably have done something I would regret.” The genius reassured, but Nat just looked at him.

“Would you?” She asked suddenly, and he made a confused expression. “Would you have regretted it?” The spy clarified, more vulnerable than he had ever seen her.

He didn’t even hesitate to respond. “You’re a pain in my ass Romanoff, but I would have NEVER given you to Ross if I was in my right mind.” The technopath said without a trace of uncertainty, and her smile was worth it.

“I- I’m sorry, for what I said at the hospital. And earlier today, it was-“ She promptly cut him off. “I deserved it Tony, and you know it.” He bit his lip, reluctantly agreeing.

He realized that his hand was still on her shoulder, and still covered by the armor. The genius promptly fixed that.

“Did I comment about how amazing that is?” She asked, grinning, as the nano particles went back to the Arc Reactor. Tony grinned back, before looking down.

He promptly cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the fogginess on his eyes, before he looked back up at her. “I don’t trust you, but I’m not angry anymore either.”

If he could have given her a better gift in her life, he would never know. The way her face lit up with thankfulness and pride and... love. He would never forget it. Because they both knew what this was. They had been doing this secret spy communication thing for years now.

Tony forgave her. He really did. No matter if she deserves or not, he did.

He doesn’t trust her though, at all, and that’s good, because he knows that only makes her trust him more.

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss on his forehead, and he really tried to hold his tears, but this time one fell. Because DAMNIT he had missed her. Not that he would ever admit it.

She smiled at him, the same smile that she gave him when he showed her her room at the tower, when he showed her her new suit and weapons that he made for her. She wiped the tear away with her thumb, then got up and walked out of the room, and he couldn’t help the smile that was plastered on his face afterward.

* * *

It was only a matter of time, really. But it still made him want to throw himself off the jet, WITHOUT the suit. He was watching Men in Black at the TV room, trying to chase away his nightmares, when he heard footsteps, his advanced hearing making them even louder. He immediately knew who it was.

“Is this seat taken?” Steve asked politely, standing beside the couch. Tony just looked at him. “It’s a free jet.” He quipped, and Rogers couldn’t help but snort, taking the seat.

They stayed there in silence, pretending to be watching the movie, but they both knew that neither of them was paying any attention to it. Rogers was the one that broke the silence first.

“I went to a psychologist in Wakanda.” He started, and Tony hummed, not really caring about what he was talking about.

“They diagnosed me with depression.” The Super Soldier continued, and Tony’s head immediately snapped up to look at him.

  
He definitely wasn’t expecting THAT.

  
The genius was, for the second time in months, left speechless for a few seconds, before regaining his composure.

He could be lying. Hell he was probably lying, to get Tony’s trust back. And Tony definitely wasn’t letting his guard down, AGAIN.

“Good. It’s good, that you’re seeking help for yourself I mean.” The genius said simply, and he saw Steve nod on the corner of his eye. They kept in silence for a few more moments.

“I didn’t know you knew Peggy.” He tried. “There’s a lot of stuff we don’t know about each other, as I already realized it.” Was Tony’s cold retort.

The Super Soldier sighed. “Tony, I-“ “Don’t.” He immediately shut him up. Tony took a deep breath to stop himself from doing something stupid. This wasn’t going to be as easy as Natasha’s conversation. Damnit why did his life had to be so complicated?

“Listen to me Rogers, and listen carefully because I’m only going to say this once. I know that you’re sorry. I know that you probably feel like shit. I just don’t care. Because being sorry won’t change what happened. You lied to me, looked down on me, judged me, distrusted me, acted like a fucking hypocrite and didn’t even realize it, and in the end of it all you almost killed me and left me to die in the cold. I don’t know if I can ever forgive that.”

Rogers was looking down with his eyes shining at the end of the speech, and he honestly couldn’t bring himself to care. “I know that, Tony. I just- I want you to know I’m sorry. Not by that stupid letter that I sent you because I wanted to feel better with myself. I’m REALLY sorry Tony. Please, if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just say the word.” The captain asked, and Tony really wanted to get out of here right now, because he simply COULDN’T forgive the guy yet. There was no making up for it. But there was something he could do.

“Continue to seek help for yourself.” He said simply, and Rogers looked flabbergasted, stuttering like an idiot. “W- what do-“ “The psychologist that you’re seeing. If we survive this, I want you to keep going to them. There’s no making up for what you did to me Rogers. So just make sure that you won’t hurt anyone like you hurt me ever again.”

Cap was completely speechless by the end of his speech. Tony honestly didn’t know what to say anymore, so he just turned back to the TV, which FRIDAY unfroze it and the movie continued.

Steve cleared his throat, getting 28% of Tony’s attention. “You’re a much better man than anyone has ever given you credit for, Tony. Never forget that.” The Super Soldier said, getting up from the sofa and walking out of the room.

Before he could go, however, Tony stopped him. “I’m sorry too.” He didn’t know why he said it. It wasn’t his fault, he shouldn’t be apologizing for anything. But Rogers did. So it was only fair he did it too.

He took the silence as an invitation to continue. “I’m sorry for trying to kill Barnes.” The genius clarified, and he could feel Rogers tensing behind him.

“Tony, it wasn’t your-“ “Oh I know.” He promptly cut Rogers off, not turning around. “I know it’s not my fault. Anyone would have reacted the same way. But-“ He bit his lip, really not wanting to say this. But it was the right thing to do. “I’m sorry for trying to kill him anyway. I know it wasn’t his fault. I already sent my BARF technology to Shuri to help on his treatment. I hope he gets better. He deserves that.”

Stunned silence followed, and he could practically hear Steve’s disbelief. He apparently managed to compose himself, because he soon spoke again.

“You were right. I really don’t deserve that shield.” The captain said before walking out of the room, and this time, Tony couldn’t say he didn’t feel a pang on his heart.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Earth.

“Are you sure he’s here?” Wanda asked hesitantly, looking at Strange, who nodded. “He concealed it well, but the Mind Stone’s energy signature is indistinguishable. He’s there.” The Supreme Sorcerer confirmed, looking at the museum.

They were in fucking England of all places, so Vision must be sightseeing around, trying to take his head off the craziness that his life was since his birth.

  
After everything, Strange can hardly blame him.

  
She nodded, feeling more dread than ever in her life. “You two had a falling out, if I’m not mistaken.” Strange spoke again, making Wanda look at him.

The witch gave a self depreciating laugh, not meeting the sorcerer’s gaze. “More like I buried him under fifty floors of concrete and caused him to get distracted and hit a friend.”

Strange hummed, not offering any input. She looked at him then. “Are you sure I’m the most fit for this? I’m probably the last person he wants to see right now...” She questioned hesitantly, honestly wanting him to change his mind about this.

“You’re right about that. But we’re running out of time. We need the Mind Stone and Vision with us, right now, so we can protect it. You’re the only one that may be able to convince him that the situation is extreme. If he isn’t feeling it already...” He trailed off, and that worried her.

“What do you mean already feeling it?” Wanda questioned worriedly. Strange sighed, looking at her. “The Stones aren’t just objects. They have a certain... conscience. If they feel something’s wrong, they’re likely going to try to warn each other.” The Supreme Sorcerer explained, and Wanda’s eyes bulged with the new information.

“Which means he’ll know that we’re out of time. Nice. Ok, yeah! Makes sense.” She said with excitement that she didn’t really feel, trying to reassure herself, but even if Vision, by SOME MIRACLE forgave her, she knew she sure as hell didn’t deserve it.

* * *

Wakanda.

  
“Well, this is a mess.” Bucky said, having woke up a few days ago. He should have known that he couldn’t stay asleep for long without that punk going after trouble.

“Indeed. That’s why we ask for your help, White Wolf.” T’Challa said evenly, although the soldier could see he was nervous. This was serious then.

He sighed. Bucky really didn’t wanna do this but... the White Wolf could help. And he would.

He took the Vibranium Arm from the suitcase, holding it firmly in his grasp. “Where’s the fight?” The White Wolf asked.

“On it’s way.” The Black Panther answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!   
> Well, that was satisfying. I hope I’m not going too fast with the bonding stuff. I mean, I’m pretty sure Tony could forgive Nat if he hears her side of the story. No, what she did is nowhere NEAR okay, but it isn’t all on her. And I really want the two of them to be friends again so whatever. And it's not like Nat forgave herself yet, so keep that in mind before you start screaming at me on the comments. Steve is a more complicated matter. Tony knows the guy’s sorry, obviously, but he can’t just simply forgive him like that. I diagnosed him with depression because, well, all of his friends lost their trust on him, his best friend was on cryo stasis, and he realized that he had helped to break one of the best men he has ever known, hence the depression. Now that we’re done with the basic Earth stuff, we won’t be back there for a while. This fic was made because I wanted to explore Tony’s relationship with the Guardians, and space in general. Also, half the Stones are in space, so there’s that. Now, the fic will be entirely focused on Tony, Hope, Steve, Nat and The Guardians in space. Then, we go back to Earth. No, Tony isn’t going to die, neither is Nat, because they both deserve a goddamn chance to be happy, so FUCK YOU Marvel writers! (I loved Endgame by the way).  
> Later Morons!


	7. Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, just so you guys know about my ideas. In the last chapter, Tony and Rocket were discussing about the Mark 51, and yeah, I know, it sounds like the perfect opportunity to name it "Prime Armor" since that's Model 51 in the comics, but that's not gonna happen. I already have a much better name for it, so don't even get me started. Also, I'll warn you, all the credit for this chapter goes to the story 'How to Repair a Broken Heart'. Basically all my ideas and dialogues on the final part of this chapter comes from there, so go check it out please. Now that that's out of the way, let's get started.

"Rogers seemed to be sulking more than usual." Hope suddenly said, as they were playing poker in the main room, at the giant table that was almost identical to the Compound one.

“Yeah, we talked. Apparently he has depression or something like that.” Tony explained, making another move. Hope hummed thoughtfully.

“Do you believe him?” The Wasp asked him as she folded, and he grinned, since he was bluffing at the last turn.

Now does he believe Rogers? That’s a good question.

“I honestly don’t know. I mean, he’s the last guy I would believe in literally anything right now, but...” The genius trailed off as he won the round.

“His eyes.” Hope finished for him, and he nodded. “Yeah. His eyes are definitely the ones of a depressed person. I really wish I could bring myself to care Hope. I just... can’t.” Tony admitted, because that was the truth.

He just couldn’t bring himself to care if Rogers was depressed or not. He brought this to himself. Now he finally knows a LITTLE of how he felt after Siberia.

“Well, if you think I’m gonna judge you, you’re about to get punched in the face.” Hope grinned, and he couldn’t help but grin back.

God, he loved this woman. He remembered taking her and Pepper to shopping for the first time, how she looked so pleased and happy. Not with the shopping but with HIM. 

He knew then and there that this woman was amazing. He couldn’t have been more right.

“Never.” He said without a trace of hesitation, and she grinned wider, but before she could answer, an alarm sounded on the cockpit. They were both there in seconds.

“What happened?!” Rogers asked, having entered the room frantically along with Nat. “We’re arriving in our destination. Sit down and keep your arms and legs close to you the entire landing children.” The genius ranted as the Bleeding Edge materialized around him, sitting on the pilot chair and preparing to shrink down.

“Wait, weren’t we going to shrink down so we couldn’t be detected?” Romanoff asked, letting some nervousness drip into her tone. He just continued to adjust everything along with Hope.

“Yeah, well, about that...” The genius trailed off. “Tony...” Rogers started, and he had a half mind of leaving them both to panic, but he wasn’t that cruel.

“Something so small couldn’t possibly withstand the pressure of traveling in the speeds we’re traveling now. So we’re just gonna have to shrink in the right moment.” He explained, bracing himself.

This wasn’t a new experience for him. He, Hope and Hank had already shrunken down the jet multiple times to test it. Now it was just another one.

It was still really fucking weird.

“Wait a minute, what happens if we don’t shrink down at the right moment?” Nat asked, and the nervousness in her tone was even bigger now.

“Well, best case scenario, we’ll damage the jet to the point of no return and die really quickly. Worst case? We’ll attract the Kree attention and then everyone’s dead.” Hope explained casually, done with the check ups.

“Great.” “Dandy.” Rogers and Romanoff said at the same time. Tony and Hope just grinned. “Well, now you will both have to live with fact that a cat is less afraid of this shit than you, right Goose?” The technopath asked the cat sitting at the cockpit smugly, who just waved her tail at him. Romanoff snorted.

“So you’re saying you aren’t completely shitting yourself right now?” She asked smugly, and Tony just winked at her. “I didn’t say that.” 

“Ok, going small in 3...” Hope started, and he focused all his attention at the small blue button that was glowing softly in front of him.

“2...” Hope continued, and even SHE looked nervous. “1...” She finished, coming out of the warp, and he pressed the button.

Everyone breathed in relief. His timing was perfect, as no damage was done to the ship at all, and they could definitely see several REALLY BIG ships in the distance, which apparently noticed the jump point activating, but nothing coming out of it.

“Well, guess we didn’t die.” Cap commented. “Yet.” Tony said, attempting to be funny but failing miserably.

“They noticed something was wrong anyway.” Romanoff chimed in, seeing some smaller ships coming out of the bigger ones in the distance. Although it could be just his impression, because at this size literally EVERYTHING was big.

“Relax. They will never notice us when we’re this small. Do you got contact contact with the Guardians?” Hope asked him, and the genius nodded.

“Yup. We’re talking in Extremis to make sure the Kree won’t notice us. We just have to- Whoa, wait a minute.” Tony suddenly said, panic starting to settle on him.

“What? What’s wrong?” Rogers asked worriedly, already grasping his shield. “I lost contact with them all of a sudden. This... this shouldn’t have happened!” He exclaimed, trying really hard to not hyperventilate.

“Tony, calm down. We’re already here. Let’s just go check on them.” Romanoff soothed, and he nodded, lifting his head from his armored hands and taking deep breaths.

God, he hated space.

“Alright. Let’s play rescue.” He said, trying to sound confident as they approached the purple and blue planet. It was beautiful, but also... not. It appeared to be worn down. And this just became clearer when they came closer.

“Well, this doesn’t look good.” Romanoff commented for everyone. The place looked like it was dying. It was raining everywhere, and everything looked gray and dull. 

“Ok, we’re approaching their location. Everybody ready?” He asked his team, and they all nodded confidently. He really hoped he was ready too.

They landed at an open field, not close enough from any structure for the ship to go through when it unshrinked. It was also far enough away from the Guardians so whoever had them wouldn’t notice his team.

“Ok, pray to god for no one to notice us.” Tony breathed out, unshrinking the jet. 

Good news, they didn’t bump into anything. Bad news, they immediately called attention.

“God this is weird...” Romanoff commented breathlessly, trying to hold a laugh. Tony laughed too. “Yeah, wait until you meet Rocket.” 

“Boss, we got incoming.” FRIDAY suddenly said in the cockpit, and everyone collectively tensed. “The Kree already noticed us?” Rogers asked, already getting up.

“It doesn’t look like it. The creatures seem native to this planet. They don’t look friendly.” The AI warned, and they all readied themselves for combat.

“They’re only trying to survive. Let’s try not to kill any of them.” Romanoff said, and they all nodded. “Agreed.” 

They came out of the jet, coming face to face with the rain and about 6 weird small hooded creatures, all holding weird weapons that were glowing a menacing red.

“We come in peace!” Tony immediately started, raising his hands, his helmet off so they wouldn’t feel threatened by Iron Man’s cold exterior.

Their answer was a bunch of weird high pitched growls that none of them understood. “You wouldn’t happen to have an universal translator with you would you?” Romanoff asked quietly, visibly tense.

“Actually I do.” Tony answered, helmet coming up so he could use the translator to understand them. Rocket had helped with this one, knowing he would need it until they could install Extremis 2.0 on him so he could understand everyone by using it.

“Huh... Yeah, bad news. They’re telling us to surrender the jet and our weapons and they will let us live.” The genius explained.

“Well, that’s not gonna happen.” Hope said, mask coming up, and the aliens seemed to be scared by it, since they screamed and backed away.

That’s until Tony realized that was because Goose had came out of the jet, and was standing innocently beside them. The aliens immediately made a run for it, while she just licked her paw, appearing to be completely unaffected by the rain.

“Well, that was easy.” Tony said, picking her up and giving her her favorite behind the ear scratches, sending her back to the jet and giving her some ice cream to distract her while they went to rescue the Guardians.

He didn’t exactly know why everyone was so afraid of her, but he wasn’t about to have his friend’s cat killed because of curiosity.

Now that this was solved, they turned back to the jet. Hope grabbed the control from one of the pockets of her suit and pressed the blue button, shrinking down the jet.

“That’s useful.” Romanoff commented as she sheathed her gun in the tight holster in her hip, as Tony made an umbrella out of his nanotech and gave it to her.

“Thanks.” She said awkwardly, grabbing it, surprised by the light weight of it. “I know, I’m amazing. Alright, time to find those idiots.” The genius said as he bent down to grab the miniature jet, handing it to Hope, who put it in a small black box, that got even smaller so she could put it in her pocket.

“Where are they?” Rogers asked, completely ignoring the rain. “East, we need to move quick. C’mon.” He said as he took flight and grabbed the Super Soldier by both his arms, while Hope did the same thing with Natasha, who let the umbrella disappear. 

They flew in silence for a while, enjoying the sound of the rain around them, until Rogers broke the silence. “You know, a few months ago you would have probably dropped me by now.” He said awkwardly.

“Don’t think I won’t.” Tony warned, but apparently it came out as more sarcastic than threatening since Rogers continued with a laugh.

“Yeah. But you haven’t done it yet. Which means... I guess it means progress, at least a little.”   
They stayed quiet after that, with Tony refusing to admit that he was probably right.

They finally reached their destination, and what they saw made Tony’s heart jump. 

It was the Guardians, at their knees with their hands behind their heads, with Rocket on the ground on his body, bleeding profusely from a wound on one of the panels at his back, with a bunch of soldiers carrying dangerous looking weapons and wearing green battle suits surrounding them.

“Oh boy.” Romanoff said quietly. Yeah, oh boy alright. They were on an elevated position, which gave them an advantage. The Guardians chose a good spot to hide, between two mountains at a cave. It apparently wasn’t good enough.

“Ok, we need to do this quietly, otherwise they will kill them. Hope, you know what to do, you two-“ “We got it. Don’t worry Tony, we’re not going to let them die.” Rogers reassured, and for the first time in six months, Tony believed him.

“I really hope you’re right.” The genius said as his suit went invisible, ignoring the shocked looks from his two ex teammates and slowly descending the mountain.

Yeah, another surprise from the Bleeding Edge. It had a stealth mode imbued on it. The stealth suits he brought along were only spares in case the stealth systems from the Bleeding Edge were damaged. Also, Rocket would love to take a look on them for the Mark 51.

If he survived.

He couldn’t help the feeling of dread as he approached the Kree, seeing Rocket sprawled on the ground like that, when he usually had so much energy and sarcasm to give. Tony really hoped he would be able to fix that. 

“You morons have two options. You surrender and your friend here will live, probably, or you don’t and you all die. Which one is going to be?” The apparent leader was saying, walking around like he was in complete control of the situation. He was about to find out how wrong he was.

He looked human, but Tony was pretty sure that wasn’t the case, considering his eyes.

“Yon. We got a problem.” One of the soldiers said nervously, making the leader look at him.

“The scanners are picking up something close. I think there’s someone here.” The soldier explained, and Yon looked around, his helmet coming up.

“I got a signal too. But there isn’t anything here... They are probably using stealth tech. In formation!” He commanded, and all the fifteen soldiers immediately had their guns up, trying to locate the threat. One of them was sure to point their gun at Rocket.

“Oh, you guys are so screwed.” Quill said confidently, grinning like an idiot, along with the other Guardians. “You think someone is coming to save you?” Yon asked smugly, looking at the group.

“Pretty sure he’s probably behind you right now.” Quill said casually, and the asshole visibly tensed, but didn’t turn around.

He chuckled, trying to conceal his nervousness. “You know, if you think your jokes are going to help you, you should really try to-“ He couldn’t say much more as he was suddenly impaled by a blade from behind him, which went through his stomach and lifted him up while he screamed, revealing an armored being that just appeared out of nowhere.

“Guess you were screwed after all.” Tony said smugly, throwing Yon at the soldier that was a pointing a gun at his Science Bro. The others immediately started firing.

They never stood a chance.

Romanoff immediately leapt into action, wrapping her legs around one poor clueless soldier that was being distracted by Tony and sending him to the ground, shooting two Widow Bites from her position at the floor at an opening of the soldiers suits, one that he was sure she identified while they were preparing to attack.

The Guardians immediately leapt into action, Groot immediately going to protect his father as the others joined the fight. 

“I thought I told you guys not to die!” Iron Man shouted as he protected himself from a slice of a green energy blade using his own energy blade, parrying another blow and impaling the soldier at the neck, killing him instantly. 

“We didn’t, we just almost died! There’s a difference!” Star Lord yelled as he threw a magnetic trap at the chest of a Kree, making another one be pulled towards him and slam heads with the soldier.

Tony flew to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, flying up and spinning him around, as the guy shot like a maniac, killing some of the soldiers and forcing other ones to take cover.

Drax yelled like a maniac as he threw himself at one of them, stabbing the poor guy repeatedly with both his blades, before rolling around and throwing another knife at another Kree’s head. 

“The big guy is on his own page huh?” Romanoff asked through the coms as she electrified another idiot. “Trust me, you don’t want to find out.” Hope said as she hit a Kree with both her legs, having just come back to normal size. She backflipped to avoid being shot and shrunk down again. 

Rogers threw his- his father’s shield at one of the walls of the cave, which made it come back and hit another Kree in the back of his head. He flipped around and grabbed the shield in mid air, slamming it at the side of another poor soul’s face. 

Gamora stabbed another one, satisfied when Mantis incapacitated a coward who was about to shoot her from behind. “Heads up!” Tony suddenly yelled, and she looked at his direction to see him throwing another idiot at her, which she promptly cut in half with Godslayer.

“Tony!” Steve suddenly yelled, and said genius looked at him to see the Super Soldier raising his-his father’s shield expectantly. Tony grimaced inside his helmet. Last time they did this they were fighting each other to the death at an abandoned Siberian bunker. 

‘Rocket needs your help you moron! Stop being picky!’ A voice in his head yelled, and he immediately came back to the ground. “Everyone get down!” He yelled, immediately firing repulsor beams from both his hands at the raised shield, which reflected them around the cave, while Rogers maneuvered it to hit all the remaining Kree, mindful to not hit the Milano.

Tony stopped the onslaught, seeing that all of them were dead. He breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Steve, who nodded at him. Tony didn’t answer as his suit crawled back to the housing unit.

“You... you won’t escape this...” Yon said breathlessly from his position at the ground, bleeding blue blood like it was water.

“Let’s see about that, Rogg.” Gamora snarled as she stabbed him swiftly at the neck, finally ending the bastard’s life. 

“That was easy. How did you guys got captured by this idiots?” Tony asked, looking around them expectantly. “We didn’t. They hit Rocket and we had to-“ Gamora immediately stopped as they reminded themselves of their fallen teammate.

They all immediately ran to said raccoon, who was being cradled with upmost care by Groot, who was covered with blue blood from three idiots who tried to come close to his father. 

“I am Groot...” The tree muttered miserably, leaning Rocket’s head at his lap. 

“They hit him in the back, DAMNIT, his neuro connections are fried! We can’t do anything-we don’t have the supplies-

“Can I take a look?” Tony interrupted Quill immediately, because FUCK HELL, he was not going to let Rocket die. He looked at Groot as well to acknowledge his part on this, heart breaking as he found tears on his eyes.

“Yeah, please.” Quill insists hastily as his mask disappeared, showing tear filled eyes that he refused to let it drop. He stood to the side with Rogers, Romanoff, Hope, Gamora, Mantis and Drax, who put a hand on his shoulder, as the others observed in stunned silence.

“I am Groot.” Comes from Groot as Tony sits in front of him on his knees, and Tony swears he hears the ghost of the word “trust” there somewhere, though he can’t be certain.

He meets Groot soft gaze as the Bleeding Edge wrapped around him, the Nano Particles knowing exactly what he wants without him even telling them. He can’t say he isn’t shocked by the trust that the tree is showing him, when he only ever met said tree by holograms before. “Thanks buddy.” He mutters, meeting Groot’s broken smile with one of his own, before his mask comes up.

He turns Rocket around, who is horribly limp, and Tony honestly wants to throw up, but DAMNIT he has a job to do. A flashlight materializes on his shoulder, giving him a clear sight of his friend.

Even without it, he can see that Rocket’s back is a mess. The genius never dared to ask how the implants worked, knowing personally how terrifying it must have been.

The guy really is a massive feat of incredible engineering, despite the torture he must have endured to become what he is. It’s sad and terrifying, and Tony experiences an intimate understanding as he let some Nano Particles crawl from his fingers into the wound, which is seeping with red blood mixed with a yellow liquid, because Tony himself has been torn apart and remade without his consent, once upon a time in a dusty cave. Strapped down to a goddamn table, screaming and writhing for an escape he’ll never manage. He can’t even imagine what a creature with no ability to understand what was happening to it would think as it was being contorted into this. A complete and total mental grasp of his situation didn’t help lesson Tony’s terror in the slightest.

But Tony is, well, a genius, so he has a good idea of what he’s doing as he wills the Nano Particles to recreate tubes and intricate machinery, being mindful of the neuro-mechanical pathways. The Nano Particles also serve as needed patches, as they harden around the ruined machinery to serve as replacements for the destroyed material.

It takes him five minutes, and only a marginal awareness exists, of the others watching in awe at the side as the genius works with such precision that you could say he created the machinery, as most of his concentration is being funneled into the delicate work that is fixing Rocket’s neuro connections, but he does it without a hitch, applying his medical suture spray from the Bleeding Edge’s fingers as him, the suit and FRIDAY pretty much worked together to save the raccoon. 

“His vitals are stable Boss. Good work.” The AI said on his head, pride emanating from her, while he exhaled a long breath of relief, seeing Rocket’s vitals return to normal on his HUD. He should be up again by the hour, not totally healed, but close to it. His neuropathways are reconnected and the micro-hydraulics that have twisted him into an upright position are fully functional again. The medical suture spray is going to take care of the real flesh and fur surrounding them, but will still take about 4 to 5 days to heal completely. Thank God for nanotechnology.

“Ok, he’s stable. He should be up again, all piss and vinegar, by the hour.” Tony informs them as he scans Rocket once more, ensuring his accuracy with the make-shift repairs, and suddenly wonders with great mirth how amused Rocket will be to discover Tony’s ‘scrap metal’ now exists inside him. 

“The wound in itself should heal normally, but it would behoove on us to check it periodically, not that he will let us, but just saying. Huh... what?” The technopath asks awkwardly as he glances up to find all of the Guardians looking at him with varying degrees of shock, while Steve, Nat and Hope are smiling widely at him, almost proudly. He doesn’t get it.

He lets the suit go back to it’s resting place, giving them an awkward, grimaced smile. Maybe it’s Iron Man’s permanent scowl making everyone uneasy.

“Tony, dude...” Quill starts, eyes wide and very green. Tony watches with apprehension. Did he do something wrong? But there’s no anger, only a huge grin that slowly engulfs his whole face. “You are awesome, man! You’re like David Hasselhoff, Chuck Norris and the guy who created the Nintendo had a three-way baby, and that baby came out and immediately kicked all their asses, like, wow. Am I right guys?” He regards the rest of them with a grin and a pair of wide hands.

“Huhhhhhhh...” Tony stares awkwardly, not knowing how to acknowledge praise from anyone who isn’t Pepper. “I mean, those are actual legends, gods among men, so...” 

“I do not know who any of these people are.” Drax grumbles, as he retrieves a knife from the head of a downed Kree.

Gamora is wiping blue blood from Godslayer with graceful, practiced swipes, against a panel on her leg, which absorbs the blood instantly. “We’ll take your word for it.” She says, sheathing her weapon, before smiling widely at Tony, the same way she smiled when he promised to rescue Nebula all those months ago.

“Thank you Tony. You probably saved Rocket’s life, as well as all of ours.” Now what does he say to that? Tony tries desperately to conceal his smile and act annoyed, but knows he failed miserably, if the small laughs from Hope, Rogers and Romanoff are anything to go by.

“He is embarrassed and trying to conceal it by pretending to be annoyed. It’s cute.” Mantis commented cheerfully, her antennas glowing, and he glared at her without any heat behind it.

A vine wrapped around his hand makes him groan in surprise, as the sentient tree pulls him in close and wraps him in what he’s sure is one of the strongest hugs he ever felt, even with Extremis.

“I am Groot.” He says, smiling, and Tony hears it then. Unmistakable, the echoes of the word ‘family’ in the air. He has a lot of practice with cryptical languages from talking with his bots along the years, and that’s what makes Tony’s heart skip a beat. 

This... this is family?

That’s not good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaand Cuuuuuuuuut!  
> And there we have it, the first part of the rescue done and now we can start to plan about what the fuck they will do now. I hope you guys enjoyed the bonding scene between Tony and the Guardians, because there’s a lot more on the way. Yes, I brought Yon-Rogg back and then I killed him. I’m starting to notice a pattern here... We’ll stay in Xiaxu for a while now, but not for long. Now let’s see how Tony founds new ways to be a badass in the following chapters.   
> Later Morons!


	8. Thankfulness

"Ok, warp drive installed. As soon as we’re done with figuring out what had the Kree so twitchy about this place, we can go.” Quill announced, dropping down behind him.

They were on top of the Milano, which was shrunken down in the middle of another cave. Rocket was at the med bay, annoying everyone about letting him help and ranting about how he now had to live with Tony’s scrap metal inside him.

He fucking knew it.

He and Quill were now fixing the ship as well as they could, at least until they could bring it to the jet so they could fix it completely. Unfortunately it was too risky to do so now, so they would just have to do some minor repairs until they took off to space again.

FRIDAY was also helping, as she had Mark 43, 45, 46 and 47 helping with the repairs as well, flying around and fixing what she could. Also shrunken down of course.

“Great. We leave in five to find out. Then we can finally leave this ‘planet’ if it can even be called that. Jesus, what happened to this place...” Tony silently wondered as he cut down a damaged path on the left wing with his gauntlet’s laser, replacing it with a new one and sending some nano particles to secure it in place.

“Yeah, it’s probably what Thanos means by balance, you know? Not wanting more planets like this or some shit like that.” Quill theorized with a deep voice on the last part, trying to imitate Thanos. Tony couldn’t help but roll his eyes, more of endearment than annoyance.

“Yeah, well, guess he doesn’t know the meaning of grief and trauma or things like that.” He said as they both flew to the left wing, with Tony carrying some more newer parts to repair it as well.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking...” Quill said hesitantly, and Tony immediately turned to look at him, disengaging his helmet to show he wouldn’t judge him.

It apparently worked since he immediately started talking. “You know how Gamora said that he wants to balance all life in the universe? And how he always invades planets and kill half of them? And I keep asking myself if there isn’t some kind of personal stake at this you know? Because it just seems too specific...”

So he also noticed that. Quill was definitely much more intelligent than he let on.

“Yeah, I thought the same thing when she explained his endgame. Something similar must have happened with his planet or something like that.” Tony said as he finished repairing the wing.

“Well, do you want to go there after we get the Aether?” Quill suddenly asked, making Tony look at him questioningly. “His planet? You know, so we could find out his motive for this? Always good to know how to piss a guy off.” He said awkwardly.

“Ok, shoot. What’s going on. You’re tense, it’s all over your body language.” The genius asked, leaving no room for argument, as they stood face to face to each other, on top of a spaceship, while in the size of ants.

God, what was his life...

Quill fidgeted a little before answering, looking at him in the eyes. “Ok, I’m gonna say this here and now, because I’m pretty sure you won’t let me say it later, just- Thank you, Tony. Like, for real, there’re not enough ways to say thanks for everything you’ve done for us man. If it weren’t for you, one of my best friends would be dead right now, and we would probably be dead too. And you did all that while recovering from several injuries and a fucking Civil War! Like, goddamnit I knew Earth was bad but...” He trailed off, and Tony realized, right there, that he wasn’t as cheerful and bright as he looked.

“There’s a reason you haven’t come back to Earth isn’t it?” Tony asked softly, letting his suit disappear, knowing he was probably toeing a fine line, but Quill immediately nodded, lowering his gaze.

“Yeah, I- my mom, she- she, she had brain cancer dude. I had to watch her slowly die for months, and she said there was a medicine for it you know? But I didn’t understand why the medicine was making it WORSE, and she kept talking about my asshole of a dad like he was a fucking knight in a shining armor, and I-“ He had to stop momentarily to wipe his eyes, and Tony wasn’t focusing in anything else but him at the moment.

He knew he had just saved his life along with all of his friends, but he was still shocked by this huge display of trust that the guy was showing him. He didn’t know if this was a good thing or not, considering that the people who trust him usually died or had their lives screwed all over, but he wasn’t about to interrupt him, knowing full well how hard to say all this must be. He knew it from experience how hard losing a mother because of a father was.

Except it wasn’t his father’s fault this time.

“I had to kill my father a few months ago, you know. And I lost the guy who I actually considered my father at the process. Found out I was half Celestial. Yay! Huh? I am, or was, half of one of the most powerful species on the universe... Crazy right?” Quill asked, trying to be cheerful, which came out as miserable.

God, how much had this guy been through in his life? Tony decided that he couldn’t let this display of trust simply be thrown in the air.

“You know, I also lost my mom when I was young. My mom and my dad actually. He was also an asshole, and I actuality thought it was his fault that the accident happened. Couldn’t be more wrong, honestly...” The genius trailed off, trying to blink back his tears, while Quill waited, listening intently.

“I also had another guy I considered my father with me. He died, but I still had another one, but unlike the other one he was actually an asshole. Tried to kill me a couple times, almost succeeded. He ripped off this-“ Tony pointed at the housing unit on his chest. “When I actually needed it to survive, and just left me to die. Then I killed him.” Tony finished his story, finding Quill staring at him with wide, tear filled eyes, which he promptly wiped away.

They stayed quiet for a while, until Quill finally broke the silence. “You know, if we survive this, you’re more than welcome on the team. You know that, right?” Tony’s heart skipped a beat and his breath caught, because Quill was making a mistake and didn’t even realize it.

“Trust me, you don’t want that.” He immediately said, and Quill just scoffed. “Of course I do. All of us do dude. It would be great to have you with us in our trips. You know, saving the universe and stealing shit. At least that’s what Rocket says...” He reassured, and DAMNIT he still didn’t get what a fucking mistake he was making by trusting him so much.

“Considering what happened to the last team I was on, you really should think twice before offering me a place in yours.” Tony said, letting absolutely nothing but casualness appear on his voice.

Quill looked at him like he had three heads anyway.

“Wh- but- dude, what’re you talking about?! That had nothing to do-“ He immediately cut himself off, understanding filling his face, and Tony had a half mind of going back to the ship and leaving him here, because he knew that Quill had him figured out.

“I see.” Quill smiled, and Tony tried to conceal his nervousness behind a raised eyebrow. “You think that your team betraying you and treating you like shit is your fault. Something you did and deserved the consequences right?” Tony’s silence was enough answer.

Quill’s smile fell from his face, as he looked away. “Shit man.” He muttered, but Tony heard it very well. “Look dude, I’m gonna be honest with you.” Tony tensed, because finally, he realized it, how he was an asshole and that he shouldn’t trust him, how he deserved everything he got and-

“My team is just as dysfunctional as yours.” Well, he wasn’t expecting that. “They disobey my orders all the time, and we’re almost always fighting, but do you see them genuinely distrusting me and treating me like shit?”

Well he didn’t have an answer to that. Like he said before. This team was much better than the Avengers ever dreamed to be. He knew they were dysfunctional, but not THAT much.

“Exactly.” Quill continued after a beat of silence. “See? None of it was your fault. This- this thing where you blame yourself for every little thing that ever happened, they- they made you believe that man! Don’t look down on yourself or anything stupid like that. It just makes you look like an idiot.” Quill was actually grinning now, and Tony knew that he was only being sarcastic.

He breathed a sigh of relief, because thank god he hadn’t realized that he was monster yet. He couldn’t make it through this without them. But, what he said... Tony acknowledged for the first time in six months that he may be right.

“I’ll think about it.” Tony said simply, and Quill smiled gratefully, and he honestly didn’t know how the heck he managed to make these amazing people smile so much.

“Ready to kick names and take ass?” Quill asked mirthfully, and Tony snorted, reminding the sheer despair that he felt when Mantis said that a few months ago, when he met her.

“You got it.” He said as they dropped back to the ship, walking to the main room to warn everyone where they were going.

“Alright. We’re going to do some recon. Find out what the hell this planet has that made the Kree so interested.” Tony said as they arrived in the room, seeing Hope, Gamora, Mantis and Natasha in it. Great. Now all the women in his life were going to team up. Thank god Pepper wasn’t here.

“I’ll go with you.” Hope said, already getting up, and he knew that there was no point in arguing with her, so he just nodded. “Hold down the fort?” The genius asked the three other women, who smiled at him.

“Always.” 

* * *

Five minutes later him, Quill and Hope are all flying around in stealth mode, Hope being at the size of an ant while he and Quill were basically invisible, added by the darkness of the now clean sky, the three of them were basically not there.

They dropped on top of a mountain, Hope unshrinking instantly to stand beside them, as they hid themselves from the lights around the place.

Apparently there really was something here, since there was apparently an excavation going on. Observation towers with flashlights were plentiful around the giant hole on the ground, where his scanners picked up activity and several heat signatures, along with- wait that can’t be right.

“What?” Hope asked, and apparently he had said that out loud, which meant he was really flabbergasted. “The- the thing they are looking for. That- that simply can’t be right, this thing must be broken.” Tony said as he ran a check on the scanners, along with his brain, because he must have gone crazy.

“It’s something really freaking awesome isn’t it?” Quill asked with a huge grin, and Tony immediately disengaged his helmet to look at his two friends.

“The thing they are looking for, I’ve already seen it. Created it, actually.” The genius explained, and both their eyebrows shot up.

“They’re looking for a massive piece of Starktonium.”

...

“A what now?”

* * *

“Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You’re telling me, that you created one of the elements encountered on an Infinity Stone, on your fucking basement?” Rocket asked, as they were all reunited at the main room of the Milano, and the raccoon had apparently annoyed them enough to let him stand up, since when they arrived said raccoon immediately started annoying his ass with sass that screamed thankfulness.

“Well, technically, I was dying. Also, it was a workshop, not a basement.” Tony corrected, and the raccoon scoffed.

“Basement, workshop, whatever. Dude, you literally created almost half of an Infinity Stone by yourself! I never said this before, but I don’t think even I could have done that!” Rocket ranted incredulously, and when Quill’s eyes snapped up to him, a grin forming on his face, a single growl shut the guy up.

Tony was, again, completely taken aback by the praise. God he wished he had his helmet on.

"Well, I had some notes from the Tesseract laying around. My old man studied it for years, so there’s that.” The genius shrugged, and Rocket looked even more incredulous.

“Wait, wait, hold on. You did all that, without even the Tesseract with you?” Tony’s silence was enough answer. The raccoon leaned back on Groot, looking like he had seen a ghost, before he laughed.

“I’m totally gonna steal your brain when you’re not looking, mark my words...” He muttered, and Tony grinned. “You’re going to have to use some of your knives for that.” He then looked at the rest of the team.

“Raise your hand if you think we should probably blow all of them up and take the Starktonium with us.” Everyone awkwardly raised their hands. He grinned.

“We leave in five then.” The genius said, and everyone started to get up. “Well, finally, I’ll be able to shoot someone...” Rocket grumbled as he slowly got up, having to be caught by Groot to not fall.

“Oh, you’re crazy if you think you’re coming.” Quill said immediately, and the raccoon growled at him. “That’s right, order me around. See how well that ends for you.” He threatened, although he didn’t look threatening at all in his state.

“Sorry Rocket, he’s right. Don’t worry, Goose will make you company.” The genius said with a shit eating grin, and Rocket immediately tensed all the way. “Fucking hell! Take her with you! I’ll stay here, I swear!”

Tony just laughed, petting the raccoon’s head, surprised when he only received a growl in response. He looked at Groot.

“Stay with him?” The billionaire asked.  
“I am Groot.” He really wished he could be certain, because he was pretty sure he heard ‘father’ there somewhere. Rocket’s fidgeting kind of confirmed that.

* * *

“We’re in position.” Gamora said in the comns. Tony heard through Extremis, as he was focused on scanning everything to make sure they wouldn’t screw this up.

Fifty hostiles, all armed. Piece of cake.

“Got it. Don’t forget, me, Drax, Quill and Cap will make some noise while you ladies infiltrate the hole and gut all of the oblivious idiots.” Tony reminded, earning a snort in return.

“What’s that, Tony? You worried about us?” Natasha asked smugly. “I can feel he’s embarrassed.” Mantis said before he had a chance to give a sarcastic retort.

“Fuck all of you.” He said before cutting them off, finishing the scans. “Language.” Rogers said in his comns, and Tony couldn’t help but snort at the old joke.

“Did this guy just say language?” Quill asked incredulously from the comns. “I don’t understand how filtrating our speech will help us in combat.” Drax chimed in, and Tony couldn’t hold his giggles anymore.

“That’s Cap for you. Alright, everybody ready?” He asked, receiving two collective ‘yes’ and one ‘hell yeah!’ from the three of them. Tony grinned as Back in Black started to play on his helmet. This was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!  
> Yup, I finished the chapter just before the action scene. I know, I’m a monster. Prepare for lots of explosions and badassery in the next chapter, and prepare to say goodbye to Xiaxu as well. Now, I don’t exactly know if Starktonium is found at an Infinity Stone, but fuck it, It’s my fic. Now, let’s get ready for some action.  
> Later Morons.


	9. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of stole How to Repair a Broken Heart OC, so sue me if you want. It's only going to last a few chapters, promise. Sorry, really didn't have another name for him.

Tony immediately shot two tank missiles at two of the observation towers, enjoying how the explosion caught the other ones too and caused all of them to be caught in a massive ball of fire.

That immediately got the attention they wanted, since they immediately started firing at him, completely oblivious to their targets at the ground.

Cap grabbed an idiot from behind, throwing him away in the air with ease, and Tony immediately blasted him, grabbing Cap by the hand and throwing him at another Kree. Steve fell on top of him with grace, sending the guy skidding on the dirt for a good five seconds before stopping.

Quill was also in the air, shooting idiots on the ground left and right, while Tony took care of the flying enemies. Several soldiers with small jetpacks came towards the flying targets, and Tony immediately engaged all of them.

He shot one of them down with his repulsor, blocking an energy blast from another one with a circular version of the Nano Shield, reflecting the blast to another idiot that was flying beside him.

“This is kind of too easy!” Quill yelled as he flew besides him and threw an explosive at them, which released some kind of electronic pulse that deactivated their jetpacks, sending the poor souls falling to their deaths.

“Yeah, well, they won’t dare to try to blast us with their big ass ships on space. They can’t risk damaging the Starktonium.” Tony commented as he flew to another one that was distracted by trying to shoot Drax, cutting him in half with his Nano Blade.

“I think we can all agree that we aren’t calling that thing Starktonium!” Cap said breathlessly as he threw his shield at another Kree, rolling around to avoid another blast and grabbing the shield when it flew at him again, blocking two energy blades that came from another one.

He forcefully threw the guy off him, making him lose his balance, which left him open for a damn hard kick that sent the guy flying. 

Unfortunately, that also left Cap open to being blasted by another Kree, who got him in the side, making the Super Soldier fly to the left and painfully fall on the ground.

The Kree approached him while he tried to get up, oblivious to the knife that was meant to hit her in the head when she wasn’t looking.

The female soldier managed to react swiftly, grabbing the knife before it could hit her, but didn’t manage to react to the enormous source of bodily harm that hit her with both his legs, screaming like a maniac and sending her flying at least fifty feet away.

Drax helped Cap got up and swinged him around, making his feet connect with the jaw of another Kree, who was sent flying with his head almost turning backwards.

Drax put Steve back on the ground, laughing, and the soldier looked at him questioningly. “It’s just- oh- you must be in so much pain, and I swinged you around like a rag doll! Oh, the bitter irony...” He trailed off, laughing even more, and Steve was reminded so much of Thor that it hurt. But that could also be the wound on his side. Or the reminder of how much he hurt Tony.

Steve sighed, reaching for his comns as Drax ran around, killing some other guys with shouts that almost killed his ears as well. “Romanoff, how are we looking?” He asked while throwing his shield at the jetpack of a Kree that was trying to hit Quill, damaging it and making the guy lose control, flying around and crashing at a mountain, exploding spectacularly.

“Could be better! These guys really want this thing!” Said assassin yelled, desperately trying to shake off a guy who was trying to impale his energy blade at her, being blocked by both her Vibranium Batons.

Her saving came in the form of Gamora, who cut the guy’s head off as if it was butter, splashing her with blue blood. Nat allowed herself to fall on her butt for a second, completely ignoring the shooting that was happening around her.

“That was really gross...” She said to herself, before rolling on the ground and grabbing one of the energy guns that were lying around from all the downed soldiers, shooting another guy and sending him flying through a wall.

Gamora threw a knife at another one, running for cover from all the shooting that was surrounding them. Damnit, there were too many of them. She reached for her comns. “Tony, a little help?” She asked as Natasha joined her.

“Sorry Green! Kind of busy here!” Tony yelled as he flew around, shooting another missile at another ship. Apparently, they didn’t want to shoot the excavation with them, but they could use it to send reinforcements.

He flew through the window of one of them, coming face to face with several raised guns. “Hey.” The genius said before activating his lasers, spinning around and cutting everyone in the room in half. “Huh. That was easy.” He commented, blasting another Kree that had just entered the room without even looking.

“Damnit!” Gamora muttered quietly. Nat threw an electric grenade at the group that was shooting them, stunning them for a few seconds.

It was all they needed.

Hope flipped one of the stunned soldiers to the ground, and the others didn’t know what to do against the invisible force, distracting them from the two deadly women running at them.

Nat pushed one of them into a wall, kneeing him in the dick and forcefully grabbing his right arm, which had a blaster on it, which she used to shoot another Kree that was trying to shoot Mantis.

Said insect was downing another one with her powers, before blocking a punch from another one and grabbing him by the neck, also making him go unconscious and slamming him at the ground. She unfortunately got hit in the chest by a green blast right after that.

“Mantis!” Gamora yelled, letting out an enraged cry as she stabbed another Kree in the stomach, running at Mantis by using him as a human shield, before she dropped him and jumped at another one, hitting him with a swift kick that broke his neck.

She immediately got up to slaughter another asshole that was about to slice her with an energy blade, but he got electrified by a yellow blast before he could get killed by her.

Hope unshrunk out of nowhere, helmet coming down to show her worried face as they both crouched down to tend to Mantis.

“Tony, we need you here right now. Mantis is hurt!” Nat yelled on her comns as she joined the two other women, done with killing the Kree on the region, applying pressure to the wound in the empath’s stomach, which was bleeding profusely.

Tony’s heart skipped as he hit another guy with maybe more force than necessary, using his boxing glove, sending him towards the ground already dead.

“You got this?!” He yelled to Quill while he joined his hands to form a large cannon, which fired an enormous blue beam of energy that hit the last backup ship, which exploded instantly.

“Got it! Go!” Quill yelled desperately as he kicked another guy to the ground, before throwing a magnetic grenade at him that attracted another two Kree’s to the falling one, sending the three of them falling to their deaths.

“On my way.” Tony said as he flew to the hole, getting blasted at his left side by a Kree on the way, which he promptly retaliated with a blast from his Nano Cannon, which opened a hole on the guy’s chest as he was thrown several feet away.

He landed on his signature crouch when he reached the cave, standing up pointing a Nano Cannon, a Displacer Cannon, four Displacer Sentries and several missiles from his shoulders to everyone in the room, which thankfully were only his friends. And one of them was bleeding to death at the ground.

“Shit!” He muttered as he flew to them, his weapons and helmet disappearing as he crouched close to the women.

“Can you fix this?” Gamora asked desperately, and he was again heartbroken to find tears in one of his friend’s eyes. He nodded immediately.

“Just cover for me.” The genius said as he applied the medical spray on her, before sending some Nano Particles to help close the wound.

Several other guys filled the room, and all the women immediately got up, ready to kill anyone who dared to touch their friend.

They didn’t have to.

Goose appeared out of NOWHERE, coming in front of all the soldiers and waving her tail innocently, and they all tensed up, their scanners picking up what it was immediately.

“It’s a Flerkin!” One of them yelled as they all raised their guns, but before they could fire a single shot, she opened her mouth, tentacles flowing out of it and grabbing all the soldiers, who all yelled desperately and tried to shoot her while she threw them around the cave, before sucking them all to her mouth and to the dimensional hole on her stomach.

Silence. Nobody dared to say anything while the cat licked her paw innocently. “What, the fuck.” Tony muttered, momentarily forgetting about Mantis, who was also unfortunately awake and wide eyed to see the display.

“Ok! Tony, are you done?” Hope asked way too cheerfully, her left eye twitching as they all turned to him. He yelped. “Yeah! All done here, she will be fine in a few days! Let’s go!” The genius said quickly while picking Mantis up in a bridal carry, running out of the room with all of them in tow, Goose following them innocently.

They all finally reached a chamber filled to the brim with soldiers, and also several machines laying around, which were being used to shoot lasers at a big crystal in the middle of the room, which was elevated in a sort of pedestal, glowing a bright blue that reminded Tony and Natasha clearly of the Arc Reactor.

Curiously, all the lasers were being shot at a single point of the crystal.

Before any of the Kree could do anything, Goose already had her mouth open with her tentacles flying around, grabbing all of them and sucking them to their deaths. She burped while everyone stared at her.

“Ok. Carol is gonna have to explain that one to me if we see her.” Tony said as he handed Mantis to Gamora, destroying all the lasers with swift blasts from his repulsors before approaching the crystal along with Hope.

His helmet came down as he stared at it, reminding all too well of the feeling of awe and dread that he felt when he created a small piece of it on his workshop all those years ago, realizing that he had created, or recreated a new element and fearing that it wouldn’t be enough to save his life.

“Hey there, old friend.” The genius muttered as he picked it up, surprised by the weight of it while Hope grabbed a Pym Disk from her belt and brought it close to the crystal, only for it to be disintegrated. She yelped, looking wide eyed at Tony.

“Yeah, that’s not happening. The amount of energy that this thing emits is probably enough to surpass an atomic bomb. Don’t worry, I’ll carry it.” He said casually as they started to exit the room, making a run for it and killing all of the soldiers that unfortunately crossed their paths.

They exited the excavation hole while the whole place blew up, courtesy of some of Rocket’s explosives, with Tony carrying Gamora and Mantis and Hope carrying Natasha.

They came back to the ground to meet Drax, Quill and Steve, all breathless and covered with blue blood. “Mantis.” Drax said immediately, coming to Gamora and picking his friend up.

“Where is the monster who did this?”  
The giant asked, looking more murderous than they’ve ever seen him. They all immediately pointed at the hole, which was smoking with flames by now.

“Damnit.” He muttered, picking her up, and Tony wondered briefly if they really were just friends. “I called Rocket and Groot. They are coming to us.” Quill reassured just as the Milano appeared in the distance, coming to them and landing softly in front of the heroes.

“Get your asses here before the Kree realize that we blew up the only reason they were here for!” Came Rocket’s voice from the cockpit, and Tony couldn’t help but laugh as they all entered the ship.

He settled the Starktonium at the main room’s table and exited the ship along with Hope, who unshrinked the jet, which came to it’s full size in all it’s glory, and they both entered it.

“Alright, you guys know what to do.” Tony said in the Milano while he was at the jet with Hope, preparing it for launch.

Did he already say how much Extremis was cool?

“I hope you’re right about this, or we’re not really coming out of this alive.” Rocket grumbled as he prepared to shrink down the Milano. He was unconscious when they shrunk the Milano for the first time, and they were about to try and fit her INSIDE the jet. Yeah, it didn’t inspire confidence.

“I saved your asses at least thirty times already. Trust me in this.” He retorted, and sure enough, the Milano shrunk down to the size of a toy helicopter, flying towards the ramp of the jet.

“You have no idea of how weird this is.” Rocket said again as he settled the ship on the garage he had readied at the back of the ship, unshrinking it, and apparently it fit perfectly, because the jet didn’t even make any noise besides the familiar unshrinking sound.

“Trust us, we do.” Hope said as the jet took off, reaching space in seconds, where they were promptly intercepted by four Kree Destroyers, one of which was strategically close to the jump point.

“Oh boy...” Tony breathed out, as the rest of the team arrived at the cockpit. “We should have built more chairs on this thing.” Rocket grumbled, before 5 other chairs emerged from the ground.

Tony winked at him. “You were saying?” He grinned wider when he heard the raccoon mutter ‘frickin idiot’ under his breath, before his attention was immediately on the comns, which were displaying a hologram of a big alien who was carrying a menacing looking staff, which had the glowing head of a hammer on top of it.

“My name is Accuser Tarlo.” The Kree said in a deep, menacing voice. “This is your one chance to surrender either we’ll be forced to blast you out of our sight.” The alien warned, and Tony just snorted.

“Or, you could go fuck yourself pal!” Rocket yelled as the genius waved at him before cutting down the comns, shrinking the jet.

The Kree Destroyers immediately started firing as they lost sight of the jet, and Tony maneuvered them quickly out of the way.

“Let’s send them a little surprise.” The technopath said with a maniac grin as he shot several missiles at them, which were all in the sizes of ants as they flew towards the ships, unshrinking in the middle of the way and hitting all the three Destroyers, which promptly distracted them enough and destroyed their remaining backup ships, so they couldn’t send more to shoot them down.

They reached the jump point and unshrinked, ready to go through it, but they suddenly got stopped by an invisible force before they could enter it.

“What the hell!” Rocket exclaimed as they all stumbled on their seats. “They appear to be using some kind of tractor beam to attract the jet to them!” FRIDAY said in the cockpit, sounding kind of terrified.

“They’re beaming us to them. They did the same thing to us when we arrived here!” Quill said desperately, and Tony promptly got up. “Hold the fort.” He said to him, and the space thief immediately got up to sit on the pilot chair.

“Where’re you going?!” Cap asked incredulously, and Tony didn’t even turn around. “To introduce myself to these bitches.” He said as he walked to the ramp, meeting all of his suits, from 43 to 47 on the way.

“Ready to play Star Wars FRI?” The genius asked as he reached the ramp. “Let’s show them the power of the Force.” She answered sarcastically, and he grinned before his helmet came up.

All the suits jumped from the jet at the same time, firing their thrusters and flying towards the Destroyer ship that was firing the tractor beam, which immediately deployed smaller ships to engage them.

What a mistake that was.

Tony and FRIDAY promptly liquidated all of the thirty ships, firing viciously at them with repulsors, missiles, lasers and a LOT of sarcasm.

“Pull over, bitch!” Tony yelled as he bumped one of the ships on the left side, sending it spinning around dramatically, and he used the opening to fire at it with his Nano Cannon, destroying it.

“Gentlemen.” FRIDAY said as she stopped in front of one of the ships using Mark 43, separating all of it’s pieces and making them fly towards the small spaceship, entering it and killing everyone inside, blasting the weak spots on it and coming out of it gracefully, assembling the suit again while the ship exploded, before flying around to hit another one.

Tony and Mark 45 circled one of the ships, which didn’t know which one to shoot so it shot both of them with blasters that came out of it’s sides. They circled the ship to avoid being hit, while aligning themselves to just the right angle and fired repulsor beams at each other, which promptly hit each other and exploded in the middle and threw all the ships back.

“OH DAMN!” Quill yelled at the jet, while him and the rest of the team watched in awe as Tony and FRIDAY destroyed thirty Kree Fighters like they were nothing.

With the combined repulsor beam throwing them off balance, the ships got open for an onslaught from the Iron Men. Mark 46 and Mark 47 teamed up against a ship, 46 flying up and coming down with a punch, hitting the right wing of the ship and tearing it apart, while 47 landed on the windshield and ripped it off, meeting the terrified faces of the pilot and co-pilot.

“Hi.” Came the Irish voice from the red and silver suit, who promptly fired it’s Unibeam at the ship, destroying it. The suits backed away from the explosion and flew around to take on another one.

“Are you sure this guy isn’t a god or something?” Rocket asked, unable to keep the awe out of his voice, as an enormous blue beam from Tony’s Displacer Cannons destroyed 3 ships in a row.

“We’re honestly starting to wonder...” Romanoff muttered.

“Boss! A little help?” FRIDAY asked as Mark 43 was under heavy fire, and the other suits were occupied dodging the main ship’s blasts. “On it.” He said as he hit another ship with two Nano Hammers, making it go down with it’s front completely destroyed.

Tony flew at the five ships firing against his least advanced suit, which was trying to retaliate but not being able to find an opening.

“SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKERS!” He yelled while putting both his feet together to form his Unibeam Level Thruster, hitting one of the ships on it’s left side with it, making it stumble against another one with great force, as both ships crashed against each other.

The genius immediately continued his onslaught by flying around and morphing his right arm into his Nano Blade, running it on the top of another ship and making it catch fire and the oxygen to be sucked out of it. He got hit by the remaining two ships and flew back, backflipping and using his Nano Wings to stabilize himself, preparing to shoot his shoulder missiles at them, but Mark 43 fired a tank missile that blew both of them up before he could.

He flew to the suit, seeing it was greatly damaged, and ordered it to go back to the jet. “On it Boss.” FRIDAY said immediately, sending the suit back to the jet that had stopped being pulled towards the Destroyer, thanks to all the damage that 45, 46 and 47 were doing against it.

The thing was resilient, REALLY resilient, but not even it could withstand four Iron Man suits firing constantly against it, so it started to worn down after a few minutes, and the other three ships couldn’t do much to help since the jet had destroyed all their backup ships, and they couldn’t fire their cannons in fear of destroying the ship instead of the armors.

Tony flew around the giant ship, using his Nano Shield to block another blast and getting thrown back, retaliating with several missiles that came from his shoulders and hit the ship, greatly damaging it and making it start to lose altitude.

Mark 45 cut a hole at the side of the ship with it’s lasers, and 46 along with 47 promptly shot two tank missiles at the opening, destroying the ship even more from the inside. They both got hit by a blast from the upper cannons immediately after and had to back down.

“Mark 48 approaching, Boss!” FRIDAY said as she destroyed one of the cannons with Mark 46, and he grinned. “Time for the big guns.” The genius said as the Hulkbuster 2.0 reached him, wrapping around him without a hitch, and he barely felt it, because again, the suits WERE him now.

“How’s it going VERONICA? Bored from space yet?” Tony asked as he reached the entrance of the Destroyer along with the other suits, which was usually covered by a force field, but it had deactivated with all the damage the ship received.

“Never Chief. Although I did miss you.” The AI said with a Scottish lilt to her tone. Tony grinned. He liked to talk to VERONICA a lot, to make sure she didn’t get lonely in space, and her and FRIDAY liked to scheme against him a lot. God, he had created a fucking family of bodiless idiots.

Idiots that he loved.

“Don’t get all emotional on me now, V. We have a Destroyer to destroy.” He quipped as he slammed several Kree that came on their away through the debris of the damaged ship.

“You should really work on your jokes after we’re done here.” The AI answered with great mirth as he fired a red continuous repulsor beam at the ceiling, making even more debris fall.

45 flew around and grabbed an idiot by her back, throwing her away for 47 to hit with a repulsor charged punch that sent her flying to the wall of the ship, opening a hole on it and sending her flying out in space.

“You and FRIDAY have been talking shit behind my back again?” The technopath asked, already knowing the answer, as he made his way towards the main generator of the ship, exterminating each and every poor soul on his way.

“Always.” Both AI said on his head as he tore through a wall along with all his other suits, meeting the main generator and several Kree pointing weapons at them.

“Regretting your life choices yet?” The genius asked as he shot down each and everyone of the Kree along with FRIDAY and VERONICA, going as far as grabbing one by the leg and slamming him around on the floor several times.

“Puny Kree.” He commented in a deep voice as 45 punched another one in the face, with 47 holding said guy’s arm so he couldn’t retaliate with his blade, which left him open for a repulsor blast on the stomach.

46 was being hit several times by two guys in a way that reminded him way too much of Siberia, and his breath caught, immediately going to help the suit, until said suit held one of the guys punch and broke it, immediately holding the other one’s roundhouse kick and lifting from the ground, activating the repulsors in both it’s hands and blasting them away.

Right. FRIDAY analyzed their fight patterns, just like he did with Rogers...

“Chief!” VERONICA’s worried voice cut through the panic, as he was being shot several times by a mini gun from a Kree that was flying in a jetpack, and the Hulkbuster was starting to feel it a little.

“Sorry, got distracted.” He apologized as he shot the asshole out of the sky, turning around to hold another one who tried to jump at him from behind, energy blade activated, and started to crush her in his hand.

But the Kree were no joke, because she managed to hold the Hulkbuster’s fingers and activate her energy blade on the repulsor, destroying it.

“Ah shit!” He cursed, slamming her to the ground before she could escape, and 47 flew by to cut her head off with a laser.

“If Laura Barton’s words are to be believed, you must place a quarter on the swear jar.” FRIDAY’s voice echoed in his head, and he scoffed. “If we survive this, I’ll be sure to place a fucking-“ He immediately cut himself off, realizing his mistake.

“Done making Laura rich, Shellhead?” Romanoff’s voice echoed in his head as well, and he breathed a sigh of relief, because THANK GOD they were all safe.

“Almost. Give me just a sec to blow up this thing.” The genius answered as he ejected the Hulkbuster, using the momentum to propel himself towards the Kree firing at him and morphing an Energy Blade on his left hand, coming down and slicing the guy across the chest with it.

He turned around and morphed a Nano Shield to defend himself from an onslaught of shots from the last Kree, who was carrying a mini gun and shooting desperately at them. Too bad she couldn’t even scratch the shield.

“Time for the big finale!” Tony yelled as all the suits aligned beside each other, charging their Unibeams as Tony deployed several Displacer Sentries to power them as well.

It was instant and deadly. They all fired their powered up Unibeams against the poor soldier, who couldn’t even get out of the way before she got hit by enough energy to destroy a planet, getting disintegrated instantly. The combined attack hit the generator, immediately destroying it and sending the ship into complete destruction.

“Oh oh!” Tony exclaimed as he and all the suits flew away from the ship the fastest they could, barely managing to get out of it before it blew up spectacularly.

They all got thrown back anyway, rolling around the air for a few seconds before managing to stabilize themselves, turning around to look at the massive ball of fire that the Destroyer had become.

Tony looked at the other three big ships in the distance, knowing they would be a problem later, and fired all his remaining missiles at them, satisfied when he saw the giant explosions damaging them and most importantly, their cannons.

The jet approached. “So, are you done making us feel like shit?” Rocket asked on the comns, and Tony snorted as he flew towards the open ramp. “Sorry if you guys were too busy being a bunch of damsels in distress.” He said sarcastically as they landed inside the jet, looking at his other suits.

“Nice work ladies. Now go to sleep.” The genius said with pride radiating in his voice to the suits, and he could hear both AIs practically snorting again.

“Unlike you we don’t really need to sleep, old man.” FRIDAY said as the suits moved towards his workshop to be repaired. He grinned, shaking his head, looking at the ceiling.

“What would I be without you baby girls?” The genius asked to the ceiling. “A genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” VERONICA immediately answered, and he could feel her love coming from Extremis.

He couldn’t help but wipe his eyes.

“Yeah, well, I have to work on the last part.” Tony said smirking as he walked back to the cockpit, Bleeding Edge retracting towards the housing unit as he reached it, meeting the awe filled eyes and wide smiles of his whole team.

The genius just rolled his eyes. “Jesus, can you guys stop looking at me like that? Your faces are going to be frozen like that if you let it.” He said, trying to contain his embarrassment as he sat on the pilot chair again.

“Like I said, god among men.” Quill muttered to Rocket, and for once, the raccoon had to agree, as said god flew the ship towards the jump point, this time going through it and getting out of that cursed place.

On the distance, inside one of the damaged Destroyers, Tarlo stared at the jet as it flew away, as several Kree ran around the ship to assess the damages.

One smaller Kree came to stand beside him, being only slightly shorter than the Accuser, and wearing dark leather.

“What do we do now, my Accuser?” The Kree asks, looking at the big alien. “We’ll let them think they escaped. Let them relish victory, before we strike and kill all of them. We will have that man’s suits and jet. Thanos will appreciate it gratefully.” The Accuser said without a trace of hesitation, and the smaller Kree tensed up.

“Accuser, you must reconsider this course of action. He destroyed one of our mother ships all by himself, and greatly damaged other three, we can’t possibly-“ “Are you saying I can’t defeat him, Advisor?” The bigger alien threatened cooly, and the smaller one immediately cut himself off.

“Of course not, my Accuser. I would never dream of doubting your might.” The Advisor swallows, clearly nervous. “I am merely concerned. If he managed to do so much damage by himself, I can’t imagine what his-“

“Your concern is meaningless.” The Accuser interrupted coolly, glaring at the smaller Kree, who immediately shrunk down under his gaze. “As soon as we reach them, Iron Man is dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> Jesus fucking mother shitting Christ, this took a while. Now that we’re (temporarily) done with the Kree, time for some relaxation time with the Guardians. This chapter was probably the most tiring and most fun to make, and I hope you guys enjoyed. Get ready for Tony’s 1v1 against Tarlo, that will be a fun experience.  
> Later Morons


	10. Upgrade

Tony rolled his eyes as The Rubberband Man played on the jet, while him and the whole team were sitting by the living room, while Quill and Natasha prepared some food that Tony had brought along.

Immediately after their badass escape from the Kree, the whole team unanimously decided (even Rocket) that Tony needed a break from piloting the jet. Actually a break from pretty much everything, so they let FRIDAY to pilot the jet as they (forcefully) took Tony to the main room, so they could celebrate.

There’s about a million and one things the genius has and wants to do before they reach their next destination, which would be Thanos main ship, The Sanctuary II, to rescue Nebula. They just really hoped he wasn’t there when they did it.

“C’mon guys, we don’t have time for this! We have to analyze the Starktonium-“ “You can do it later.” Gamora immediately interrupted, leveling him with a glare that made him think twice before answering.

“Alright, fine! Don’t blame me when we’re boarded and killed while we sleep.” The technopath grumbled and crossed his arms, leaning back on the couch behind the huge table and looking insanely like a child who didn’t get what he wanted.

“Oh trust me dude, that’s not gonna happen. If that was a risk for us we would have died a long time ago.” Quill said smirking as he dropped a cake on the table, with Romanoff bringing snacks to accompany it.

“Is he always like this?” The green alien asked incredulously to Natasha, who just smirked. “Always.” She answered without a trace of hesitation. Tony just scoffed.

“Sorry I had to work myself to the ground to make sure you guys wouldn’t die on the field.” He grumbled, missing Romanoff and Rogers’s guilty looks while Rocket snorted.

“Is basically the same thing here for me. Just instead of suits I usually make things that blow up.” The raccoon said while he had his face buried in a sack of chips, muzzle coming out full of offal.

“Oh, I used to do that too, until I got hit by one of them and learned some humility. You know, the usual.” The technopath said as he ate a slice of cake, enjoying the sweet sugary taste of it. “Approved.” He said to Quill and Romanoff, who high fived.

“That’s when you became Iron Man, right?” Rocket asked, and immediately cowed under all the glares that were shot at him. “What? I was just asking! Geez, you guys are a bunch of pansies.” He grumbled, and Tony just laughed.

“It’s okay guys, geez.” The genius dismissed them with a wave of his hand. “Yeah, that’s when I became Iron Man. Made a suit out of fucking scraps and blasted my way out of that cave. That’s why I used the Starktonium for- no, actually that’s a lie, I actually used palladium to power the thing that stopped the shrapnel from hitting my heart. It was suspiciously similar to the housing unit I use now.” Tony explained, pointing at his empty chest, which didn’t have the housing unit at the moment, since it was at the workshop for the Bleeding Edge to be repaired by FRIDAY and restocked with nano particles.

“Palladium? That thing is toxic!” Rocket exclaimed and Tony nodded. “Yeah, learned it the hard way. Found out I was dying, that’s actually when I met Itsy Bitsy over there.” He said, pointing at Natasha, who just waved sheepishly and lowered her gaze, ashamed of this part on their history.

“And that’s when you created Starktonium? Wait, you’re telling me, that you created an element encountered on an Infinity Stone, on your basement-“

“Workshop.” Tony immediately corrected. “Workshop! Fuck, whatever! You did all that, while you were dying?” Rocket asked, trying to mentally grasp the situation, as all eyes on the room were on Tony. The genius just shrugged. “I work better under pressure.” He said while grabbing another snack from the table.

“We should threaten him while he works to fix the Milano then.” Drax immediately suggested, making everyone glare at him. “What? He said he works better when he’s in the risk of dying.” The giant grumbled, stuffing his mouth full of Cocoa Puffs.

“Buddy I’m always in the risk of dying. FRIDAY how many times did I die since you were activated?” Tony asked the ceiling, not really waiting for an answer, so he was definitely surprised when Vegeta’s voice suddenly echoed in the whole jet.

“OVER 9000!!!!” The Saiyan yelled, making everyone laugh sterically, even more when Drax yelped and threw a knife at the ceiling. “How many bodiless children do you have?!” The giant asked incredulously, and they all just laughed harder.

While this was happening, Tony was also using Extremis to check the state of his suits. Mark 43 was the most damaged one, being the least advanced of the lot, but Tony upgraded all of his suits constantly, in case he would need to use an older model again, so the older suit could take the damage.

The repairs were going smoothly and uninterrupted, with both FRIDAY and VERONICA working constantly and probably scheming against him on the way. Speaking of them...

“You should really stop worrying about us and enjoy the party.” FRIDAY chastised him on his head while the others continued to laugh, with Steve getting up to sit the exasperated giant down close to Mantis, who had recovered enough to at least join the party with the rest of the team.

“I really don’t think we should be doing this right now. We’re literally in the middle of space, flying in light-speed on our way to rescue a blue alien from a purple bigger alien. Shouldn’t we, you know, be more nervous?” The technopath asked as Gamora jumped on the ceiling to remove the knife that Drax had thrown, ending up falling on her back when that happened, making said giant laugh at her.

The knife being thrown inches from his face immediately shut him up.

“I think that’s not what you’re nervous about.” FRIDAY said with certainty, and the genius had to hold his scoff on the real world. Gamora and Natasha would probably gut him if they found out he was trying to work behind their backs.

“Would you like to clarify, smart ass?” He asked, letting some annoyance drip into his tone, but the AI was unaffected.

“You’re afraid of ruining their fun with your ‘annoying ass that is only good to ruin other people’s lives’. Your words, not mine.” FRIDAY said with inquired sass, but Tony could hear and feel that she was totally serious about this.

The genius couldn’t help but blink. Did he actually say that? He honestly didn’t remember, but it was probably sometime in the middle of the last six months, specifically on the first one.

He was in a bad place at the time.

Tony sighed, as Hope threw a spoon at Rocket for something he said, which, unfortunately for the raccoon, suddenly grew in size and got at least ten times bigger, making the engineer yelp and jump out of the way.

“Jesus! I just said that Wasp is a stupid name to have! It’s not like it inspires fear or anything!” Rocket yelled annoyed as he got up from the ground.

“Oh, because being a raccoon is really threatening.” Hope retorted, making said raccoon bristle. “I could eat you on dinner honey!”

Tony couldn’t help but let out a laugh as the argument continued, with Hope grabbing Goose and shoving her at Rocket’s face, making the poor animal yelp and run out of the room.

“Ok, fine! Maybe you’re right. Doesn’t mean I’m wrong though.” The technopath grumbled, and another AI decided to join the fray.

“You realize that without you none of these people would be here right now, right? The Guardians would still be stranded on a hostile planet while the other three would probably be sulking somewhere on Earth. Even me and FRI wouldn’t be here without you.” VERONICA chimed in, and that gave Tony pause.

She was right. Without him, NONE of the people that were on the jet right now would be here with him. Seeing them all laugh and tease each other while another song started playing, Tony smiled, checking the progress of the repairs one last time.

Mark 43 had a severely damaged left arm and chest piece, and it’s back thrusters needed repair as well, all of which were being provided at the moment.

Mark 45 had a dented spot on it’s hip, and it’s right gauntlet’s laser had been damaged. All of which was also being fixed.

Two of Mark 46’s auxiliary reactors were damaged, along with several other spots on the whole suit that had suffered from the double beating from the two Kree at the Destroyer, all of which would be pristine again in a few hours.

Mark 47’s paint job needed some retuning, and the left boot jet was needing some repairs, along with the helmet. Not a problem as well.

Mark 48 had a destroyed left repulsor and damaged left side of the chest piece, and it’s helmet needed to be repaired as well.

Mark 50 was the easier to repair, since it ran on nano particles, that were being restocked at the moment along with all the missiles that he spent.

Estimated completion time for all repairs: Six hours.

Tony looked around the room again, and accepting that he may, and the key word being MAY, be able to cause another feeling other than misery, he shut down Extremis and enjoyed the party.

* * *

“So, we definitely need to name this thing something other than ‘Starktonium’. It’s embarrassing.” Rocket said as they scanned the crystal on Tony’s workshop, trying to find out what they would do with it.

“I tried to put it as ‘Badassium’ but it didn’t fit on the periodic table.” Tony explained as he used Rocket’s scanner, which he reluctantly had to admit was better than his. Just wait until the suits were repaired...

“Well, that thing doesn’t exist in space buddy, so we can name it whatever we want. Let’s just go with Badassium. Anything is better than Starktonium.” The raccoon ranted as he activated one of the lasers on the workshop, hitting the crystal with it and letting out and annoyed ‘well, that didn’t work’ when it didn’t even scratch the material.

“Agreed. Alright, the scanner is saying that we’d need the equivalent of a miniaturized black hole to mine this thing. Probably due to it’s immense density. The Kree were probably having the same idea considering the machines I destroyed on the excavation.” The genius said as he put the scanner down, leaning on a table behind him. Rocket came to sit beside him on said table, fiddling with a small circular gadget that Tony was sure could probably destroy the whole workshop.

“The poor bastards would have probably killed themselves without even realizing it. Well, fortunately for you, I’m actually not a moron, as you already probably realized it, so I can probably build something like that. After I take a look on one of your suits.” The raccoon stated more than asked, settling the gadget down.

“Sorry plush face, they are still under repair-“ The technopath was interrupted by a feminine voice that was full of intended mirth. “Actually Boss, the Bleeding Edge is ready for use again. I’m sure plush face could take a look at it.” FRIDAY said as Rocket already went to the Hall of Armors side of the workshop.

“I’m really thinking about dissecting your AI and stealing the projects on her servers, Stark.” The raccoon said sarcastically, or maybe not, teeth sharp in a grin, and he couldn’t help but grin back.

“I would like to see you try, RABBIT.” The AI answered, and Rocket bristled. “What the fuck did she just call me?!” The animal asked indignantly, already reaching for his gun.

“Ops, too late.” Tony said as the housing unit flew into the workshop, hovering in mid air in front of the two geniuses and deploying the suit, which assembled itself in ten seconds, standing there on it’s own.

Rocket’s smirk was priceless. “Finally.” He said as he grabbed his scanner and started to analyze the suit, eyes unable to hide his awe as he saw all the intricate machinery, the nano particles, the power source and the weapons imbued on it.

“Goddamnit I want one.” The raccoon muttered quietly, but Tony heard it loud and clear. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you one on your birthday.” The glare he received was fenomenal.

“You know, I never thanked you.” Rocket said as they both worked on the right gauntlet to up the power from the repulsor and lasers. He was phenomenally talented with each and every kind of tool: spanners, screwdriver, blowtorch, soldering iron. He was an official Science Bro as far as Tony was concerned.

He never had a partner in the lab like this. He had Bruce of course, but the scientist was more of a Biochemist than an engineer, and his bots were nowhere near as crafty as he was.

Tony honestly wished they could stay on the workshop forever.

“For what?” The genius asked as he replaced the lasers with Rocket’s ones, being incredibly eager to test them. “You know what. Saving my ass back there at Xiaxu. Actually saving all of our asses back there.” The raccoon said, waving his screwdriver around in a dismissive gesture.

Tony just scoffed dismissively. “Yeah, whatever. I don’t need thanks for saving my friends from imminent death.” He said as he willed the arm of the suit to become a Nano Cannon, which they both promptly got to work on.

“Yeah, but that’s exactly it. I mean, we contacted you out of nowhere six months ago asking for your help, and you immediately started to make a plan to save all of our asses, even if I treated you like shit most of the time...” Tony momentarily stopped working to look at the raccoon, surprised by how small his voice sounded, and even more surprised to find his ears slightly lowered.

“What I’m trying to say, if I’m even saying anything is... why? Why did you stopped everything to help us all of a sudden? I sure as hell wouldn’t have done it.” The technopath couldn’t help but snort at that, leaning on the table filled to the brim with tools behind him.

He took a while before answering, because even HE didn’t know why he helped them. With a deep breath, the genius spoke. “I guess I needed a team. And you know... friends and all that. I wasn’t exactly in a good place all those months ago, and you guys really helped to ease the pain at the time... so I guess I kind of owed you or something like that.” Rocket immediately scoffed at that.

“Leave it to you to think that you owe us something after you built a ship to save a bunch of strangers that you barely met on the other side of the galaxy, all that while sulking about everything that happened in like, the last 2 weeks. You literally saved our asses at least two times by now dude! Stop acting like you are obligated to help us or something. It’s annoying.” The raccoon chastised in the most honest tone Tony ever heard from him, and he was again shocked by the display of affection from these incredible people that he had met six months ago.

Tony just smiled, looking down, trying to get rid of the tightness in his chest. “Yeah, well, you know. That’s what friends are for right?” The genius said without looking at Rocket, going back to work on the Nano Cannon, refusing to see the disgusted expression that probably filled the raccoon’s face as Tony referred to him as a ‘friend’.

So he was really surprised when the raccoon climbed on the back of the suit, looking at him with a big grin that showed all his sharp teeth. “Damn straight.” His friend said before he went to work on the shoulder missiles, being mindful to not deploy any of them and destroy the whole workshop.

Tony couldn’t help but start designing a special weapon for the raccoon as they both worked on the Mark 50, yelling at each other, arguing, and threatening each other several times, always with big grins that echoed respect and trust from both parties.

* * *

“So, you ARE sure this thing isn’t going to fry his brain or anything like that, right?” Quill asked hesitantly as Rocket connected Tony to the Milano, leaning down on one of the beds on the med bay with a cable connected to the Arc Reactor of the Bleeding Edge, which was wrapped around Tony nicely besides the helmet, showing his eyes glowing a cerulean blue.

The raccoon just glared at him. “If I wanted to kill this guy I would have done it a long time ago in much more efficient ways.” He grumbled as he checked his tablet, pressing a few commands on it to boot Extremis 2.0 into the Milano, which would then transfer it to Tony’s brain alongside with the Bleeding Edge. The other suits were also repaired and ready to receive the new operational system as well.

“How long will this take?” Nat asked from the corner of the room, where she was sat down at a chair and cleaning her weapons at a table, which was a great way of concealing her worry.

“If he survives it? About four hours.” The raccoon answered and promptly laughed at all the glares he received. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m 99% sure he’s not gonna die at this.” He said as the prepared to activate the program.

“Ninety nine?” Rogers asked skeptically from where he was standing alongside the other Guardians, who had similar worried and skeptical looks on their faces.

“Pretty sure that’s way higher than the chances he had when you abandoned him in Siberia. Alright are you ready?” Rocket asked the technopath leaning down in front of him, missing or ignoring Rogers’s wince, and the fur did wonders to hide the wrinkles that displayed his worry.

“Sure. Don’t slam your shield at my chest while I’m hibernating here please.” He jabbed, and Rogers did well to hide his wince, but Tony noticed anyway.

“Don’t worry. We’ll shoot him before he tries anything.” Gamora reassured, and Tony honestly didn’t know if she was serious or not. Hell HE didn’t even know if he was serious or not. He wasn’t really sure about getting four hours of uninterrupted sleep with Rogers around, but having all these deadly people that would defend him with their lives surely helped.

Rogers grimaced, suddenly looking very small for a Super Soldier. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He said in a low voice, and Tony wasn’t sure if he believed him.

“Alright, now that we’re done threatening the national flag there, let’s get this started.” Rocket cut the tension as he started the countdown.

“5.” The raccoon started counting. Gamora came forward and held his hand, and he winked at her.

“4.” Hope did the same thing with his other hand, smiling softly at him.

“3.” Mantis came and put a hand on his forehead, using her powers to get rid of his nervousness and ease him into sleep.

“2. 1.” The raccoon finished as he felt the new operating system invading his brain, and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaand Cuuuuuut!!!!!  
> So, not really much happened in this chapter. Just wanted some good old bonding time after the fucking war that was the last one. Tony deserves it. Also, I wanted to write him and Rocket working together and bonding for a while now, so this was also meant to be a chapter between Tony and Rocket as well. Hope he’s not too OOC, it’s the first time I’m writing about him or any of the Guardians to be honest. Next chapter won’t have much Tony in it, since it’s going to be focused on the other ones on the jet while they work when Tony is sleeping, so there’s that. Stay tuned, and later morons.


	11. Ambush

“Was that supposed to happen?!” Hope asked, doing nothing to contain her worry as her best friend’s eyes suddenly shot up, glowing a blue brighter than she ever saw in the last six months, not looking asleep at all.

“He’s receiving several petabytes of information as we speak. If it weren’t for FRIDAY limiting the information he is getting right now his brain would probably already have exploded.” The raccoon explained dismissively as he checked his friend’s progress at his tablet, satisfied to see stable brainwaves and vitals.

“So, we just wait here while he risks having his brain disintegrated by all the information?” Natasha asked, voice carefully blank.

Rocket looked thoughtful for a while, before shrugging. “Yeah.” He said while checking the suits, seeing they were receiving the information smoothly.

“Great.” Quill breathed out, sitting in a chair next to Tony, along with everyone else besides Steve.

The captain didn’t really feel like he was welcome in here, much less in watching Tony, so he discretely left the room, unaware that a certain petite Russian spy knew the second he left.

He found himself in his room, wondering where all went wrong, while trying to hold the tears that came every time he thought about the genius.

Steve remembered all the times he looked down on Tony, labeling him as a coward, untrustworthy person. He fell right into the mask of ‘Tony fucking Stark’ and didn’t see Tony.

Thinking about Natasha, about how he lied to her and abused her trust, a trust that she only gave to about 10 people in the whole universe, Steve knew he hadn’t been a true friend for anyone at this century. Not even Sam, that had been his friend through all of this with little to no reading, wasn’t as close to him as he should be.

‘Sometimes my teammates don’t tell me things.’

He felt like the biggest asshole in the world every time he thought about that moment. At a farm, cutting down wood with the genius, judging him about Ultron, not even trying to look at his side of the story, and becoming a hypocrite in the middle of the way.

‘Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, people die. Every time.’

Well, look at where they are now. The threat that Tony kept warning them about, the one that he BEGGED for them to see, receiving nothing more than eye rolls and scoffs from them, was back, and it would probably end them along with the whole universe because they couldn’t have enough human decency to listen to the desperate pleas of a man that was clearly cursed with the knowledge he carried.

Here, in the dark of his room, with nothing but the faint hum of the ship as company, Steve silently wondered if he didn’t deserve the end that was coming. A man who demanded honesty, and kept secrets for himself. Asked for respect, and offered little in return. Inspired trust, and given none. Called them up to have his back, and left them hanging when they’d needed him (break out or not, he’d left them, he always left them).

He even had the trust of Tony Stark, a notoriously untrusting man. And what had he done with it? Threw it in the trash because he was too stubborn to listen. Because of Bucky. It was always because of Bucky.

Now that he thought about it, seeing Bucky hiding in a country that barely existed until a few months ago, Steve wondered if he hadn’t just condemned his friend again.

‘Try not to slam your shield at my chest while I’m hibernating here please.’

Tony’s face when he said that made it very clear that he still thought that Steve would attack him, just like that. His face when he slammed his- Howard’s-shield at the Arc Reactor, something that used to keep Tony ALIVE, was forever imbued into Steve’s nightmares.

He remembered very well how he covered his face with both his arms, fully believing he would hit his head and end him right there.

Tony truly thought he would’ve KILLED him.

The mere thought caused Steve to get nauseous every single time.

He didn’t regret defending Bucky at the Siberian bunker, Tony himself said that he shouldn’t have acted the way he did. But he would always regret letting that happen in the first place, because if it wasn’t for him, if he hadn’t been a complete ASSHOLE, that fight would never have happened in the first place.

Steve honestly should have just let Tony kill him. He more than deserved that.

He was so wrapped up in his own head that he didn’t even hear a familiar redhead approaching, leaning against him room’s door.

“A certain genius on your mind?” Natasha’s voice came from the door, Steve’s head immediately turning to her as he quickly wiped his tears away.

“Not just him, honestly.” He said as the spy took a seat across from him, already bracing himself for a verbal beating.

“I talked to him, you know.” Well, he wasn’t expecting that. He noticed they were strangely comfortable around each other since before Xiaxu, even trading some barbs that held absolutely no heat to them. But he didn’t think they had ‘talked’ yet.

“I’m surprised he didn’t threw you off the jet.” He said lightly, and Natasha snorted. “Yeah, he pointed a cannon at me, but otherwise he didn’t try to kill me.” She paused, looking down, swallowing a little before continuing.

“I apologized, he accepted. He doesn’t trust me, AT ALL, but I guess you could say I got a lot more than I deserved.” The Black Widow shrugged, eyes glistening with unshed tears, and Cap couldn’t help but smile.

“Good for you, Nat. But unlike me you didn’t exactly try to kill him.” He said with a little self depreciating smile, and Romanoff stiffed a laugh, looking down.

“You know, if I deserve a second chance, maybe you deserve one too.” She said, looking at him straight in the eyes with an absolutely serious expression. Steve just laughed.

“Yeah, you try saying that to him.” He said it sarcastically, but Nat’s expression didn’t even waver. “I’m pretty sure he’s already thinking about it.”

Steve blinked, suddenly speechless, as he tried to come up with words, but they never came, so Nat just continued.

“Tony’s too goddamn forgiving, and I absolutely HATE myself for making him forgive me. But if he forgave me, it’s only a matter of time until he does the same to you, so I warn you only once.” Here, her expression turned absolutely murderous, and he had to fight his instincts to stop himself from getting up and run away from the room.

“If and when that happens, DO NOT screw this up again. Because if you do, nobody will ever find your body. And if by some miracle they do, they won’t know who did it, because they won’t be able to mistake it for anything BUT murder. We’ve all been given a second, or even a THIRD chance. Don’t waste it. And NEVER forget that I’m not as forgiving as Tony is.” She finished, getting up and walking away from the room.

Steve was left speechless for a good few minutes after that. He knew she loved Tony, specially after the whole SHIELDRA fiasco, when he took her into his tower without an once of hesitation, wiping everything he could about her from the internet, knowing there wasn’t anything in the universe that would make her ask him.

He remembered it very well. The video had went viral. She was coming out of the senate hearing at Capitol Hill, and came face to face with several reporters, who all asked her rude and annoying questions about the situation.

They had all stopped when Tony’s Audi suddenly parked around there, front window opening to show the genius’s face covered by glasses, as he called Nat to go, unless they wanted to meet his ‘friend’.

He opened the back window to show the Mark 43 sitting casually there, glaring at all the reporters with that terrifying permanent scowl. From Natasha’s smirk when she went to the car, he had probably drove her there too.

But this sheer amount of care and trust and LOVE that she had just shown when she threatened him, in a way that he had never seen before, even when she interrogated and threatened their enemies, was still enough to throw him for a loop.

He knew then and there that even if Tony, by some goddamn miracle forgave him, Natasha probably never would.

After all, Natasha had loved Steve too, and he had thrown it in the trash as well. Just like he did with everything since he got out of the ice.

* * *

Hope found herself wondering a lot of times how she had ended into this situation, sitting here with a bunch of aliens and assassins and super soldiers while holding the hand of who she could proudly call her best friend, while he was receiving an upgrade that would make him capable of controlling a spaceship with a thought.

She found out she didn’t regret it in the slightest.

“How did you two met?” Gamora asked beside her, making the CEO look at her. She smiled. “I contacted him a few months ago. I wanted to help him bring a certain idiot that had stolen my father’s tech back to me. I honestly didn’t think we would become as close as we are.” Hope smiled softly, brushing a stray hair from his head. Gamora matched her smile.

“When we contacted him, I didn’t really know what to expect. I kept wondering if we could trust him to really help us when he agreed to it. That’s until he promised to save my sister. The way he looked, so... so-“

“Honest?” Hope finished for her, and Gamora nodded, smiling wider. “Yes. Honest. I knew then and there that I could trust him. Looking at him now, after he saved all of our lives without even wanting nothing in return, I keep wondering if we’ll be able to go back to normal after he goes away.” The green alien finished, eyes shining slightly.

“He thinks he doesn’t deserves us. That we should keep our distance from him so we don’t get affected by him. It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.” Mantis chimed in, antenas glowing brightly, contrasting the miserable look on her beautiful face.

“Tony is like that. He could save the universe a hundred times over and would probably still think he doesn’t deserve to be happy. Basically everyone he trusted in his life betrayed him in one way or another, and he can’t help but think it’s because of who he is. It’s a self destructive cycle that almost tore him apart several times. You guys are probably the only reason he managed to push through the last few months.” Hope commented, and Gamora and Mantis had to lower their heads to hide their blushes.

Gamora didn’t really know how she came to the point of actually blushing because of a compliment, but she found herself flattered nonetheless.

“It’s the least we could’ve done for him. He doesn’t owe us anything, I hope he knows that.” She said, suddenly worried, and Hope just snorted.

“Oh, trust me, he already thinks that. Tony is too giving. He gives and gives and he doesn’t accept anything in return because he thinks he doesn’t deserve it. If you want to compensate for him you have to do it in a way that he won’t accept but will begrudgingly tolerate. I learned that a lot in the last few months.” Hope said, smiling fondly, and Gamora and Mantis couldn’t help but match her expression.

“He’s without a doubt one of the best men in this universe. I just wish he knew that.” The fiercest woman in the galaxy said sadly, and the other two women couldn’t help but agree.

* * *

They flew in peace for almost four hours, until, of course, everything went to shit. The jet suddenly stumbled, coming out of warp all of a sudden, and everyone in it besides the owner of the jet was in the cockpit in seconds, facing several Kree Destroyers.

“Damnit they followed us! Hope, go wake Tony!” Gamora immediately ordered but Rocket stopped her before she could even get out of the room.

“DON’T YOU DARE TO DO THAT! His brain will be destroyed if you interrupt the uploading process!” The raccoon yelled, making everyone freeze in their spots.

They were being beamed towards the Destroyer in the middle, and they knew they couldn’t possibly fight all of the Kree inside all 5 destroyers by themselves. They had to make a choice.

“Hope, shrink down the Milano and the Iron Man suits and hide. We’ll hold them off.” Gamora ordered, and said woman bristled.

“You’re completely out of your mind if you think I-“ “Would you rather be all of us then?!” The green alien snapped angrily, and Hope didn’t have a response for that.

“Shrink down, lock out the workshop, shrink the suits, the Milano, and hide. Stark is probably going to destroy all the five ships after he wakes up.” Rocket said, flashing a sharp smile at the end, and Hope couldn’t argue with that. She grunted.

“Fine! But don’t die! Tony will kill me if any of you get hurt.” The Wasp ordered, and they all grinned, brandishing their weapons. “They will have to go through 8 layers of hell before they get to him.” Quill said confidently as his mask appeared on his face.

Hope nodded, taking a deep breath. “Just, hold on.” She said, hating to have to do this but knowing she didn’t have any other choice as she shrunk down, flying to the workshop.

“FRIDAY, lock up everything!” Hope ordered as she unshrinked and threw Pym Disks at all the suits, shrinking each of them down to the sizes of ants. She grabbed each of them and put them in the small black box that she had readied in case the suits needed to be hidden, closing the box and shrinking it as well, before shrinking down herself.

“Done it, Miss Van Dyne. Boss will wake up in about 20 minutes.” The AI said in a slightly worried voice as she flew towards the Milano, shrinking it down as well and entering it, immediately going to the cockpit to fly the miniature ship out of there.

“Hide as well FRI, he will call you when he wakes up.” Hope ordered as she hid the ship in a blind spot of the jet, her heart thundering in her chest as she heard noises coming from around her.

“Good luck, Hope.” The AI said before going quiet, completely hiding her presence from the intruders.

At the main room, the others were about to be boarded. “Alright, so who here hasn’t been boarded before?” Rocket asked as he charged his gun, ready to rain fire on the whole damn world before they could get to Stark.

Rogers and Romanoff raised their hands, and he grinned. “Try not to piss your pants too hard.” The raccoon said as they all hid themselves around the room, noise coming from outside as they finally reached the Destroyer.

One of the walls of the ship were suddenly cut down in a quadratic shape by a laser, and all of them braced themselves. But they couldn’t do much.

The room was immediately filled by gas all around it, and Rocket groaned. “Oh, great, they are going to be a bunch of pansies and put us to sleep.” The raccoon grumbled as he started to feel dizzy, dropping his gun.

“Damnit.” Natasha grumbled quietly as she fell, the gas acting so fast that even her advanced physiognomy couldn’t keep her wake for long.

“I will not die to air!” Drax yelled as he ran towards the hole that had been cut in the wall of the ship, obviously not fitting through it and hitting his head, falling on the ground on his back.

“Oh boy.” Quill said quietly as he stayed hidden, his mask providing protection from the gas as the ramp started to be forcefully opened.

“How long do you think we can make it?” Steve asked breathlessly, as his enhanced physiology allowed him some protection from the gas, although it wouldn’t last much.

“Best guess? About five minutes.” Star Lord answered as the ramp finally lowered, being practically ripped away from the jet on the way.

“All I need.” The soldier said confidently as the jet started to be infested by soldiers.

They both immediately attacked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDDDDD CUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!  
> Yeah, everything went to shit. Now’s just Tony and Hope against the 5 Kree Destroyers. Piece of cake. I don’t exactly know if the Guardians would’ve been affected by the Kree gas, since they probably have equipment to protect themselves from it, but fuck it, it’s my fic. I’ll just pretend they could be affected by it. Next chapter Tony’s going to rescue everyone again, and I’m honestly probably going to run out of ways to make him look like a badass. Later Morons!


	12. Awakening

When Steve came around, he realized two things. He was elevated in the air, and he wasn’t in the jet anymore.

‘Tony.’ He immediately thought, but reminded himself that Hope was with him, and forced himself to stay calm, looking around the room. He immediately noticed that Quill was floating in front of him, suspended in some kind of blue light that was also probably engulfing him. He had a gash on his forehead that was leaking blood, but otherwise he was fine and awake.

“How long have we been here?” The Super Soldier asked, and Quill tried to shrug from his position, not making much progress. “20 minutes, give or take. Tony’s probably waking up by now. Let’s just wait to see how that goes.” Quill grinned, and Cap couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be surprised if he let me here.” He said in a self depreciating manner, and Quill just snorted. “Yeah, neither would I, but he agreed to rescue us in about ten minutes on our first conversation, so I wouldn’t worry about that.” The space thief assured, and Steve couldn’t help but be curious.

“You contacted him, and he just agreed to help you? Just like that?” The Super Soldier asked, and Quill nodded, grinning at the memory. “Yeah, he didn’t even hesitate. I remember that the first real question he asked was if we were okay and how long we would be able to hold on. That guy he- he just never stops working you know? Doesn’t matter how down he is or how tired he’s feeling, he just smiles and pushes on.”

Steve was left speechless for a few seconds.

Tony Stark had a much bigger heart than he had ever given him credit for.

The conversation was interrupted by someone entering the room, and they both immediately straightened, becoming absolutely quiet, both of them knowing they would go through hell before saying anything.

The Kree that entered the room was the same one that contacted them before, carrying the same staff from before, and they now could see that the alien didn’t have a single combat armor on, and wears plated regalia, which probably meant he was the leader of the ships. He was eight foot tall, and his expression was completely unreadable.

He walked towards Steve, looking at him in a mix of disgust and curiousness, before he spoke. “We meet again. If you remember me, I’m Accuser Tarlo. I offered you two the chance to surrender not a long time ago. You’ll find that refusing it was a mistake.” The alien started in a deep voice, his hammer glowing a menacing red.

“Sorry pal, couldn’t stand the thought of being in a ship with you. You stink.” Quill started, and Steve knew exactly what he was doing. Stalling.

The Accuser turned to him, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. “Your insults don’t affect me human, although I would appreciate if you settled for silence.” The Kree said, turning back to look at Steve.

“Do you know who I am?” The alien asked, and Steve shook his head. “No sir.” He said respectfully, not wanting to piss the guy off and cause them any unnecessary pain. Also, he liked to be polite.

“I’m one of the Accusers, Kree’s elite military force.” The alien started, and Quill snorted. “Yeah, I remember. Pretty sure I blew one of you up.” He said smugly, and that appeared to have hit a nerve, because the Kree immediately turned to Quill.

“Ronan was not one of us anymore by the time you killed him. Never forget that.” He warned, but Quill was unaffected, trying to shrug again. “Yeah, whatever. Pretty sure if I kicked his ass I could probably do the same to you.”

It was the Accuser’s time to snort, walking towards Quill, and Steve’s heart started to beat faster. ‘Damnit Tony, hurry up.’

“Unless you have another Infinity Stone with you, I wouldn’t count on that.” Tarlo said as he approached Quill, looking at him like he was a piece of meat.

“Maybe I have.” The idiot said, earning a punch on the side of his face in retaliation, which made his head jerk towards the right, while he spit some blood from his brand new split lower lip.

“You will stay quiet, human. Do not test me.” The Accuser threatened before walking back to Steve, while Quill just licked the blood running down his lips. “Whatever.” He muttered.

Tarlo ignored him, approaching Steve again, and he already knew what he was about to ask. “Where is the Iron Man? My crew couldn’t find any of his suits, nor the man inside the jet.” Cap stayed absolutely quiet, not letting absolutely anything appear on his expression. Thank God for Natasha’s training.

The Kree grinned, a maniac smile that reminded him way too much of Ross. “I was hoping you wouldn’t say anything. Now I can finally have some fun.” He said as he reached towards Steve, and he braced himself, but an explosion that could be heard even from there stopped the alien short.

He grinned even wider, and Steve found himself worrying if Tony would be able to beat him by himself.

“Finally.” The Accuser muttered, his smile never faltering, looking at Steve again before getting out of the room.

“There’s our rescue.” Quill muttered, and Steve couldn’t shake the feeling of dread anyway.

* * *

The second Tony woke up, he immediately noticed the differences. The Bleeding Edge responds to him better than ever, going back to the housing unit without him even commanding it. He has several petabytes worth of information on alien races and planets and their associated technological abilities. The sheer amount of it knocks the genius on his ass for a second, leaving him gasping for air.

“Boss! Calm down, you’re safe, I’m here.” His baby girl echoed in his head, and he hasn’t ever felt more thankful for her presence than in the moment.

“Hey baby girl. I was out for a while huh?” The technopath grumbled, removing the cable from the housing unit and groggily sitting up. He was still kind of dizzy, so he didn’t notice the situation yet.

“You were out for four hours and twenty minutes, Boss. I’ll slowly let all the data that you received flow into your brain so you aren’t overwhelmed.” FRIDAY said soothingly as he got up, leaning on a wall for support.

“Thanks FRI. Where’s everyone?” Tony asked, curious that no one was around and that the ship looked completely turned off. “Yeah, about that...” The AI trailed off, and the genius was alert on seconds.

Great, they left him here. What a surprise. Probably realized what a mistake they made by following him.

That concern was immediately quelled when Hope entered the room, immediately running to him and pulling him into a hug. He hugged her back, reminding himself that these people weren’t going to abandon him.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as she pulled away, and he smirked. “Like fucking Neo.” She didn’t smirk back. “Good, because we’ll need it.”

Wait, what?

“What happened?” He asked, suddenly immensely serious. “We got ambushed by the Kree. They took the others away into the Destroyer. I managed to shrink us and the suits and hide.” Tony wasn’t really listening anymore, because he was on the verge of a panic attack.

‘Great. Fucking fantastic. I went and killed everyone. Knew I should’ve stayed away from them so this exact shit wouldn’t happen. Look where we are now. We’re all doomed and it’s all my fault. All my fault. ALL MY-’

“Tony!” Hope’s voice cut through his panic, and he focused on her beautiful worried face to try to shake the panic off. “Look at me, I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t even wanna hear it. This is NOT your fault, you hear me? It’s NOT.” The Wasp stated, leaving no room for argument as she cupped his face in her gloved hands, and he leaned into the touch, desperately needing to be comforted right now.

“We need you okay? We need that genius computer brain of yours right now so we can save everyone. Are you with me?” She asked, still cupping his face. He sniffed, wiping his eyes, before straightening himself. He grabbed her wrists and nodded, eyes flashing blue.

“I’m with you.” The technopath said with certainty as information regarding the Kree flew through his brain, and in seconds he already knew everything he needed to know about the Destroyers, slipping his code on them discretely, thanking god that they wouldn’t be able to identify the foreign code.

“Good.” The CEO said, smiling at him, and he smiled back as they made their way back to the cockpit. “Alright, what’s the plan?” She asked as she sat on the pilot chair, Tony sitting on the chair beside her.

“We’re shrunken down right?” She nodded. “Good. Take us to the garage and unshrink us. Time to introduce ourselves again.” The genius smirked as his code finished sweeping the Destroyer, slipping into the other five ones like a parasite. A really mean, vengeful parasite.

“With pleasure.” Hope smirked as well as they reached the garage, the Milano unshrinking while they both got up, making their way towards the exit of the ship.

“Meow.” They turned at the noise to find Goose laying at the table on the main room, and they both grinned. This was going to be fun.

The three of them exited the Milano to find an empty garage. Great. Element of surprise.

Tony checked the jet on his mind as they made their way towards the ramp, assessing the damages made to it.

The ramp was almost ripped from the jet, there was a hole on the side of it and the fuel had been stolen. The rest of it was being protected by the protective enchantments that still held strong.

Nothing he couldn’t fix.

“Leave one of the suits here so FRIDAY can guard the jet with it.” Hope nodded, grabbing the small box from her pocket and gently picking up the Mark 43, settling it on the ground and pressing a command on her wrist, unshrinking it.

“Don’t let them touch anything.” He ordered, and the suit kind of nodded, going towards the workshop to terminate the idiots there.

“Boss, they have the Badassium.” FRIDAY warned on his head, and Tony froze.

Damnit. They had just almost killed themselves to take the damn thing from them, now they had to take it back again.

“Great. They have the Badassium. We can’t leave without it.” He said to Hope, who nodded, her helmet coming up.

They exited the jet while it repaired itself, thanks to the adaptive technology Tony had installed on it, along with the nano particles that were hard on work on fixing the ship.

They came face to face with several energy guns, blades, mini guns, staffs, snipers and jetpacks, all ready to be thrown against them.

Too bad they wouldn’t last long.

“Alright! You got us. We surrender!” He yelled dramatically while Hope watched him curiously, knowing he wasn’t serious.

“Finally, you made a smart decision. On your knees!” One of the Kree sneered, and the genius just smirked. “Sure.”

That’s when all of their weapons simultaneously stopped working, powering down completely and letting out green sparkles that made it clear they wouldn’t last long before exploding. The funniest part was the jetpack ones falling on their asses on the ground.

“What the-“ The soldier didn’t have time to finish as he was blasted away by a repulsor, which killed him instantly and even hit the wall of the ship, opening a hole on it.

Huh.

The Bleeding Edge’s Nano Repulsors were already insanely powerful, but apparently Rocket managed to make anything better.

He immediately flew to another Kree, punching him in the face with a boxing glove and sending him to the ground on his face, making a dent on the floor.

Several other Kree approached, being completely disarmed because of Extremis, but still knowing how to fight very well, along with being insanely enhanced themselves.

Fortunately, Tony wasn’t alone.

Goose’s roar echoed around the ship as her tentacles grabbed several Kree and sucked them to their deaths, while Hope shrunk down, electrifying and surprise attacking them left and right.

Tony ducked under the punch of one, retaliating with an uppercut that sent the guy flying, Hope immediately appearing out of nowhere and slamming the guy back to the ground.

One tried to grab him from behind, strangling him by the neck, not knowing what a mistake that was when she got sliced by several spikes that materialized on his back, sending her to the floor already half dead.

He took flight, blasting idiots left and right while checking the progress of his malware on the other Destroyers, satisfied to see that he was in. “Alright Stingy! Let’s finish these idiots and grab everyone so I can look like a badass again!” The genius yelled in the comns as he fired a tank missile at a bunch of crates that some Kree were hiding behind, destroying them and their cover.

“If you stop ranting about your awesomeness for a second we might be able to hurry this up!” She yelled as she backflipped to avoid another punch from one of the two Kree that were ganging up on her, shrinking down and immediately firing her Stingers at his neck, enjoying when he spasmed and fell on the floor.

Hope flew behind the other one, who was trying to locate the invisible threat without much luck, since Extremis had turned off their scanners as well. She unshrunk and grabbed him by the neck with both her arms, surprised when he just grunted and grabbed her arms, throwing her off of him and into the air, where she didn’t even have time to shrink down before she hit the floor.

Stars exploded in her vision while she tried to get up, but damn the guy was strong, and she was still dizzy as he approached, ready to kill her with his bare hands.

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t see the armored technopath coming towards him with a huge blade, impaling him with it from behind and lifting him up, ignoring his screams, throwing him at another Kree.

He helped Hope get up, letting her lean against him to recover from the impact as a big shield materialized on his back, almost like a wall, blocking the other Kree from reaching them.

“Wanna do something fun?” He asked while Goose continued to slaughter more oblivious soldiers, who screamed in absolute terror before being sucked to their dooms.

“You got it.” She smirked inside her mask as the shield disappeared, and he swinged her around, throwing her against three upcoming Kree while she shrunk down, hitting one of them with an electrified punch that sent him down instantly.

Tony blasted the other two, flying around and coming down with both his Nano Hammers engaged, slamming them against a poor soul that tried to fire his blaster, only for it to blow into his hand, as he got slammed into the ground by two hundred pounds of pure bodily harm.

A Kree ran at him and tackled him on his side while his hammers disappeared, but Tony immediately recovered and threw the guy off of him, sending him flying to get hit by a repulsor blast and an invisible force that unshrunk in front of him, her wristbands glowing an electric yellow.

“Ready?” The genius asked, raising his hands, repulsors glowing brightly. “Yup.” His friend answered, pointing both her arms at him. They both fired at the same time, repulsor beams hitting the electric beam of the fully charged Stingers and triggering a chain reaction that downed all of the Kree on the room, sending them to the floor spasming from the electricity.

“Oh yeah. I guess they don’t have much to say now.” Tony commented as he ran through the schematics of the ship, finding the prisoner cells fairly quickly, using the cameras on the cells to check on his friends.

Groot and Rocket were in the same room, suspended in the air while two Kree scanned them, probably asking a bunch of questions that were answered with three words and a lot of snark.

Gamora and Natasha were in the same room as well, and WHAT A MISTAKE that was, as Tony deactivated the suspension fields, delighted when the two assassins killed everyone in the room in five seconds.

Drax and Mantis were in another room, probably annoying it’s five occupants to death with blunt and cryptic answers as the genius disabled the suspension fields as well, not even staying to see the slaughter that would be the next five seconds.

Last but not least, Quill and Rogers were also being held at a room similar to the other ones, with several Kree that looked about ready to torture them filling the room, one of them carrying a table full of dangerous looking tools in front of Quill. Not today bitch.

“Alright. I disabled all the suspension fields in all the prisoner cells. They must be escaping now, so go meet them and take them back to the ship. Try not to be noticed or die in the middle of the way.” Tony said dismissively as he sent her the schematics of the ship, while searching for a certain big red alien carrying a menacing looking staff, finding him standing in the middle of a big, circular room, that was located in the middle of the ship, by himself. Talk about dramatic.

“He’s waiting for you, Boss.” FRIDAY said in Extremis, and the new operating system let him feel her code and feelings coming from it much more clearly.

Worry. Skepticism. Love.

“I know FRI. Don’t worry, we got this.” Tony said as he readied himself for the hardest battle he would probably have in a while.

“What about you?” Hope asked as she disengaged her mask to pointedly look at him, and he cringed inside his mask. Leave it to Hope and Pepper to make him feel like he was on the principal’s office.

“There’s a certain alien who I accuse of being a prick waiting for me. Gonna give him what he wants.” The genius shrugged, already bracing himself for an argument.

“Are you insane?! You want to fight the guy alone? At least let the rest of us help!” The Wasp argued as the Mark 43 casually came out of the jet, dropping Kree corpses on the ship’s floor and straightening the ramp so it could fix itself faster.

“We don’t have time. You need to lead them to the jet while I take care of the red meanie there. Keep the engines running and check the auto repairs while you’re at it. I can’t risk this guy surviving to tell the tale.” Tony argued as he already took flight, hovering above the ground in front of an incredibly angry looking Hope.

“Fine! Be an idiot if you want it so much! At least take your suits with you then.” She said annoyed as she settled the miniature suits on the ground, unshrinking them to reveal 4 beautifully repaired armors, all waiting to aid him on kicking ass.

“Ok, but take 45 with you. The four of us will be enough to kick our host alien’s ass.” The genius said flippantly as all the suits lifted from the ground, with Hope sighing. “Be careful.” She said in a surprising vulnerable voice before engaging her helmet again, shrinking down and flying towards the rest of their friends with Mark 45 on tow.

He sighed, not really knowing what he did to deserve such caring people with him before he flew away too, turning right, then left, right again, and finally approaching the room where the Accuser found himself, all the while blowing idiots up left and right with the help of his three other suits, which were being controlled by FRIDAY and VERONICA to help him in his massacre.

He threw another one to the side, 46 immediately blasting the guy as 47 punched another one, using him as a body shield against the blasts of two other Kree, which were promptly killed by 47’s shoulder missiles.

Tony spun around, firing the newly upgraded lasers from the Bleeding Edge, enjoying how they responded smoothly and cut through all of the Kree and walls as if they were butter. He got hit by two energy blasts from two Kree and thrown out of air, flipping around to fall on his feet and immediately retaliating with two repulsor blasts that sent the assholes flying. He blocked an energy blade with his circular Nano Shield and retaliated with his own, smaller energy blade, slicing the guy across the neck, killing him instantly.

“We’re approaching his location, Boss!” FRIDAY stated as she threw another Kree in the air with 46 for VERONICA to blast away, before she grabbed another one by the hair and slammed her at the wall of the corridor, activating the repulsor on the hand and blowing up the woman’s head.

Tony sliced another one’s forearm with his Nano Blade, elbowing him in the face without even looking as he threw the chopped forearm in the air, which had a blaster imbued on it. He immediately fired a repulsor blast at the appendage, making it explode and sending all the Kree in the corridor down.

“You got this?” The genius asked as he started to make his way towards the Accuser again, punching another Kree in the face and grabbing him by the neck when he fell, throwing him towards a blast that came from another one and firing his Unibeam at him before the guy could shoot again.

It literally disintegrated the guy.

Goddamnit, Rocket was amazing. Just wait until they got their hands on the Aether and started to manufacture Mark 51. That would be a fun experience...

“We got this, go!” The AI yelled as she flipped another idiot over 47’s shoulder, firing a laser at her forehead and killing the Kree instantly. VERONICA punched another one on the ground, squashing him on the floor, raising the Hulkbuster’s hand to defend the suit from a mini gun’s flurry of shots that was coming from another Kree with a jetpack, who got promptly slammed to the ground by 46.

Tony sent his baby girls his feeling of pride, receiving bashful responses, before making his way towards the leader of the ship again.

He arrived with style, destroying the metal doors by slamming two Kree who unfortunately tried to stop him against them, coming into the room and hovering in mid air with his Nano Wings, staring down the Accuser as the two soldiers stopped by the alien’s feet, not responding and not getting up.

Tarlo just stared at him with a bored expression as he landed on the floor with impeccable grace that came from years of doing this shit, Nano Wings disappearing as he stared back at the Kree.

“Good. You’re finally here. I would be severely disappointed if you weren’t, Stark.” Tarlo started after a moment of silence, which Tony used to analyze his weapon, seeing that it was Kree and slipping a malware into it as well, but it would definitely take a while for it to actually do something. Stall the guy then.

“Flattered. How do you know my name again?” The technopath asked as they started circling each other, while he ran a sweep of the entire ship to find the Badassium while the guy bragged.

“You ladies got the prize?” Tony asked his AI’s in Extremis.

“On it, Boss.” “You got it, Chief.” Both voices echoed in his head, and he couldn’t help but grin inside the scowl of Iron Man.

“Thanos talks a lot about you. I’m sure you know about him.” The asshole continued, and... well, Tony knew that, but damn he didn’t think the guy would be so interested in him like that.

He briefly wondered in horror if he wasn’t just as prepared for Tony as Tony was for him.

“And you’re working for him? Weren’t you supposed to be elite or some shit like that?” The genius taunted, trying to conceal the nervousness that he was feeling. Thank God for his mask right now.

This force, this evil, faceless force that finally had a name, was just as interested in Tony as Tony was in him. Well shit.

“I can’t say I don’t agree with Ronan’s way of thinking, despite the fact that the rest of the Kree Empire doesn’t exactly think the same. They’re all too selfish to see the bigger picture. They only worry about themselves and their needs. It disgusts me most of the time.” The Accuser drawled as they finally stopped circling each other, staring each other down while explosions ran through the ship, being ignored by the both of them.

“Wow, hypocrisy at it’s prime here. Pretty sure your loyalty isn’t with Thanos though.” The genius challenged, enjoying when Tarlo appeared furious for a second.

“My loyalty lies with the most powerful one, human. And right now, that one would be Thanos, and you are a big obstacle in his way, one that he will be pleased if I remove.” The Accuser finally appeared to stop the ceremony as his hammer glowed brighter, and Tony straightened as well.

“I’d like to see you try.” The genius sneered before he launched himself in the air, Energy Blade materializing in his left hand as he came down against the Accuser, who blocked his hit with the middle of his staff, throwing him away to the ground. Tony rolled around and used his hand thrusters to stabilize himself and stop skidding, taking flight again just as Tarlo slammed the hammer in the ground where he was just seconds ago, Nano Wings materializing as he fired a repulsor beam against his opponent, who countered with his own red energy beam, starting a stalemate between the two incredibly powerful forces.

* * *

  
Hope flew around the ship with an immense sense of dread, going through the schematics Tony sent her towards the rest of the team, the empty armor following behind her offering absolutely no comfort whatsoever.

Said empty armor was also slaughtering Kree left and right, opening the path to her while she flew, an invisible wasp on this massive ship.

45 cut three Kree in half with it’s lasers, and before the two behind them could counter with their blasters, Hope unshrunk in the air, coming down with her Stingers fully charged, hitting the floor with a punch that released an enormous electric discharge that downed both hostiles.

“God, I love Rocket.” The CEO couldn’t even believe what came out of her mouth, which distracted her from the Kree that just came through the corner, ready to blast the hero.

Said Kree got blasted in the head by a smirking raccoon, who was being accompanied by a sentient teenage tree, a green woman with a sword dripping with blue blood, a blue giant who was supporting a woman with antennas in her head on his shoulder, another smirking idiot but this time blond and human, and another two blonds, one man and the other a woman, both with blue blood stained all over them.

“Did I just hear you love me honey? Sorry, but I’m pretty sure you’re not my type-“ Rocket was cut off with a yelp as she pointed her Stingers at his face, both of them crackling with electricity.

“Choose your words wisely, because it could be the last ones you will ever say.” The Wasp drawled out, murder in her eyes, and the raccoon gulped and shut up.

“I am Groot.” Came from the sentient teenage tree, making Rocket bristle. “Pussy is your mom you asshole!”

“Alright, how about we get out of here before more of them come?” Gamora interrupted the idiocy happening in front of her, just as more Kree appeared in the corridor.

“Too late.” Quill commented as his mask appeared and they all threw themselves against the soldiers, who could barely keep up with the heroes.

“Where’s Tony?!” Cap asked as he flipped upside down, hitting a Kree in the face with both his feet at the process. “He’s fighting Tarlo somewhere in the ship!” Hope yelled as she shrinked down again to avoid a blast, flying towards the shooter and growing back to normal size again in front of him, hitting the guy with an electricity filled punch that sent him spasming towards a wall, skidding on his back towards the floor.

“That’s stupid! He’ll never beat the guy by himself!” Star Lord yelled as he kicked another Kree down, getting grabbed by another one from behind him and thrown against a wall, falling on the ground graceless and dizzy. Several Kree ganged up on him after that, only for them to get blasted by Mark 45’s Unibeam and almost getting disintegrated in the process.  


“You have no idea of how weird this is.” Quill muttered as the empty suit helped him get up.

“That’s what I said to him! But he insisted in being an idiot!” The Wasp yelled angrily as she held a Kree’s hand with everything she had while shrunken down to the size of a wasp, her Stingers in maximum power electrifying the guy and making him weak, leaving an opening for Gamora to stab the guy in the middle and cut him in half.

“We have to go help him then!” Steve yelled as he threw Howard’s shield at another Kree who was about to shoot him, running in the wall and punching another Kree when he came down, grabbing the shield again and throwing it against one of the walls of the corridor, making it bounce towards several Kree’s heads.

“Go! We got this!” Quill yelled as he placed a magnetic trap at another Kree’s chest, making the guy get stuck in the wall of the corridor, leaving him open for a blast in the head from Star Lord.

Steve nodded at Natasha, who nodded back as she sliced another one’s throat, running towards him and letting him grab her arm, so he could throw her against another soldier and send him to the ground, rolling out of him and continuing towards the battle happening in the middle of the ship, while Steve punched the downed Kree while he tried to get up.

“Die, you bunch of pansies! C’mon get some! Get some!” Rocket yelled as he shot several Kree like crazy, making them activate their energy shields to get cover from the onslaught. What they didn’t predict was Groot extending his vines towards their feet and pulling them all towards him and his father, who was at his shoulder, holding a circular gadget that was blinking red, and a maniac smirk on his face.

“Not again...” Drax muttered, appearing to be horrified as he jumped out of reach, just as an enormous explosion shook the whole corridor, with the smoke clearing to show Rocket being protected by a bunch of vines and wood, which slowly morphed into Groot again, revealing several dead and burnt Kree on the floor.

“Always works.” The raccoon grinned, sheathing his gun on his back. “We would prefer if you didn’t try to blast us into space next time.” Mantis muttered as she leaned against Drax, the wound in her chest paining her to no end.

“Welcome to the Guardians of the Galaxy honey. This is your first of many explosions.” Rocket said dismissively as they made their way towards the jet. “He speaks the truth.” Drax muttered hesitantly to his friend.

While this was happening, Natasha and Steve were running through several corridors and rooms, with an hologram coming out of Nat’s wrist showing a map of the whole ship, while they made their way towards their idiotic friend, who apparently had no concern for his life.

“I’m gonna kill him when we get there!” The Black Widow snarled as she shot another idiot with her Widow’s Bites without even looking, while Steve punched and kicked and shield bashed his way through.

“Get in the line.” He said breathlessly as he slammed Howard’s shield at another one’s head, sending the guy flying towards the left and slamming towards a wall, creating a huge dent on it.

* * *

Tony got smacked to the side, falling on his back on the floor, quickly rolling out of the way of Tarlo’s slamming his hammer on where he was seconds ago. He used the opening to morph two Nano Cannons on his hands, blasting the Accuser with them and throwing him back, while he slammed the tip of his staff on the floor to stop himself from hitting the wall. Tony continued to fire, but he activated some kind of force field that countered the blasts, making Tony stop the onslaught to spare energy. He grinned.

“Good. Continue to fight. It has been a while since I had a real challenge.” The Kree said as he got up, the destroyed bodysuit in the side where he was blasted regenerating and covering his wound.

“It’s your funeral.” The genius snarked as he morphed the cannons into different versions of the Nano Blades, which took both his forearms and now were more triangle shaped, like swords. His Nano Wings materialized on his back along with enhanced thrusters at his feet, as he flew towards his opponent, clashing with his staff and slamming the guy in the wall, where the Accuser sneered at him and activated his hammer’s blast, throwing Tony back several feet.

He hit the floor with a thud, blades and enhanced thrusters disappearing and mask regenerating as he started to get up, only to have to materialize a Nano Shield to block the powered up hits of Tarlo’s weapon.

“I thought you were formidable, Iron Man! But you’re not even worth a good fight! Thanos would be disgusted to even look at your pitiful figure, so I am going to spare him the trouble!” The alien ranted as he continued to slam the Nano Shield with his hammer, managing to break some of the superficial plating, which immediately regenerated.

“Yeah, keep talking!” Tony yelled as he located an opening in the successive slams, making the shield disappear and immediately firing his Unibeam, blasting the Accuser to the ceiling and making him fall directly towards the Unibeam Level Thruster that was pointed at his direction, which fired and sent the Kree flying towards the wall, breaking it and sending Tarlo towards the control room, where he hit the floor several times before stopping on his body, trying to get up.

He didn’t do much progress as he got slammed by an Energy Mallet as soon as he managed to lift his head, hitting the floor again and struggling to keep awake. He got grabbed by the leg and thrown against another wall, not managing to do anything against the blue beam of energy that got fired on his direction, sending him flying towards another room.

Tony sighed as the six Displacer Sentries disappeared on his back and the Displacer Cannons dematerialized, glaring at all the Kree in the control room, who were all frozen in fear after seeing him beat down their leader to a pulp.

“Out.” He jabbed a thumb towards the exit of the room, and all the occupants of the room immediately ran from there, as he approached the control panels and immediately started to hack them.

“How’re we doing FRI?” Tony asked while he ran towards all the archives in the ship’s servers, downloading everything to the jet, which was done self repairing by now.

“Almost there, Boss!” The AI yelled as she along with her older sister blasted several Kree around the room where the Badassium was being kept, with 46 flying and slamming a flying Kree with it’s shoulder, sending the guy flying towards the wall of the room.

“That's my girl.” The technopath praised as he continued checking the data, helmet retracted as his eyes flashed blue, seeing exactly what he wanted to see.

The Sanctuary II’s location.

He heard frantic footsteps entering the room, and his helmet immediately snapped in place as he turned around with a tank missile pointed at whatever poor soul decided to challenge him this time. Thank god it was just Rogers and Romanoff.

“Where’s the Accuser?” Natasha demanded as they approached the genius, who just pointed towards the destroyed wall on the right corner of the room. The two ex partners stared at it for a few seconds, barely believing their eyes, before looking back at Tony.

“Are you kidding me?” Nat asked, and the genius just shrugged. “Not my fault I’m amazing.” Rogers snorted as he bent down to grab the Accuser’s weapon, being stopped by Tony.

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you. I slipped a virus into it.” Cap’s hand immediately retracted as if it had been slapped. “So you’re telling me you can spread deceases into technology now? That’s gross.” Romanoff teased, earning a disapproving glance from Rogers and an eye roll from Tony.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll slip a virus into your Widow Bites. See how you like it when they shoot stars instead of electricity.” The genius snarked, but the playful banter was interrupted by the rubble moving in the corner of the room, and the three heroes were in guard in a second.

The hammer-staff suddenly moved on it’s own, being pushed towards the rubble by an invisible force, which happened to be Tarlo’s hand, which shot out of the rubble and grabbed the weapon, using it to destroy the debris around him, disintegrating all of them in red energy.

The Kree panted, bodysuit struggling to adapt against all the damage it received and sporting several dented spots. His face was leaking with blue blood and his helmet was almost completely destroyed. Tony had really done a number on him.

“That guy’s hard to kill.” Said genius commented as he pointed his Displacer Cannons at the alien, two Displacer Sentries hovering behind him.

“It’s been a while... since I... was pushed this hard.” The Accuser panted, clearly struggling to keep on his feet. “We call that an ass kicking, just so you know.” Romanoff chimed in, Bites pointed at the alien and cracking with electricity.

“It does not matter what you call it. Even if I die... you won’t survive Thanos-“ He cut himself off as he fell on his knees, leaning heavily against his weapon.

“You’re defeated. Stay down.” Cap ordered, clearly not wanting the guy to suffer more than he had to. “You should not be concerned for me, human.” The alien snarled as he activated his hammer again, which started glowing brighter than ever, looking dangerously unstable.

“It’s going to self destruct! We need to get out of here!” Nat yelled, but Tony just shrugged. “Nah, it’s fine. It just needs-“ He cut himself off as he appeared to be concentrating. Sure enough, the glowing stopped, along with the whole energy that usually cracked around the hammer.

“A little push.” The technopath finished as the Accuser looked at his hammer, horrified, not being able to believe what just happened. “No...” He muttered, trying to get up, but getting no further than a grunt and falling back on the ground.

“Ba bye.” Tony taunted before firing his Displacer Cannons along with his Unibeam, the three beams being powered by the two Displacer Sentries behind him, ending Tarlo completely, not leaving even ash behind. Only the broken remains of the hammer were left, which Tony had no interest into. He also opened a huge hole into the ship, which actually opened a path to space, which started sucking everything close to the hole.

“Oh boy! Time to go!” The genius exclaimed as he grabbed his two companions and flew out of the room as fast as he could, Nano Wings materializing instantly as he flew the three of them back towards the jet, where everyone met at the same time.

“You can yell at me later! Let’s go!” Tony commanded before Hope and Gamora could rip him a new one, dashing into the jet along with everyone, his suits also flying in, Mark 47 carrying the Badassium that Tony found out actually had another name in the archives of the ship. Mark 46 was carrying the stolen fuel and some more. That’s what happens when you steal things from people who can kill you. Goose innocently followed all of them, done with her little massacre.

“What about the fuel?!” Quill asked frantically as they all strapped in their seats in the cockpit. “FRIDAY already took care of it. C’mon!” Tony exclaimed as he deactivated the force field blocking their way out.

“That’s so cool!” Rocket cheered as they all flew away from there. “You haven’t seen nothing yet.” The technopath winked at him as he turned the jet around to give them a good view of the show, the Bleeding Edge going back safely to the housing unit.

“Now... We just watch.” He said smirking, swinging his feet up the dash as all the Destroyers cannon’s pointed at each other, charging to maximum capacity before firing viciously against each other, destroying themselves with a command of Tony’s mind.

No one said anything as they watched the onslaught, seeing each ship slowly destroy the other and turn themselves into massive balls of flames. Nobody failed to notice several smaller ships leaving the Destroyers before the attack started though.

“Made sure that everyone that was still alive left the ships before starting the skynet attack. Now let’s go before their friends come asking for us to pay for the repairs.” The genius explained casually as he flew the jet to the jump point, going through it and warping them out of there.

Gamora immediately slapped him in the shoulder as soon as they were in warp, and he seriously regretted not having the suit on at the moment.

“Don’t you ever do something stupid like that again, you moron!” The Green Meanie chastised, and Tony just leaned back in the chair, the exhaustion from such extended use from Extremis and the fights finally catching up to him.

He did not come out unharmed out of the fight with Tarlo. His head throbbed with pain from all the times he got slammed into the floor, and he had a few cuts on his face from the energy blast he had received earlier. He wasn’t used to Extremis 2.0 yet, and such a prolonged use only added to his headaches. Tony honestly just wanted to sleep right now.

“Pretty sure I kicked his ass all by myself. Didn’t you guys need an Infinity Stone for that?” The technopath grumbled, his eyes closing as he rested his head on his seat.

“Well, technically, Ronan was stronger than that guy so-“ “Shh!” Everyone shushed Quill as they heard Tony snore softly, and unanimously decided that they could rip him a new one for being reckless later.

A few million lightyears away from there, inside the Sanctuary II, the Mad Titan grinned. “So Tarlo is finally down. I imagined it would happen sooner or later. At least Stark spared me the trouble of doing it myself.” The Titan said as he looked at the golden gauntlet on his left hand, which had all it’s slots empty at the moment.

“If you don’t mind me asking, my lord, how does this help us?” Ebony Maw asked, bowing before him along with the other members of the Black Order.

“Stark was right when he said that Tarlo’s loyalty didn’t lie on me. He would have betrayed me sooner or later. Now that I know what he’s capable of, we can finally begin.” Thanos said as he got up from his throne, the four elite members visibly shivering from fear under his gaze.

“Get up, my children. Trace a course to Xandar. It’s time to place the Power Stone where it belongs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> Ok, this one took even longer than Chapter 9, Jesus. I know that it might seem like a stretch for Tony to be able to kick an Accuser’s ass all by himself, but this guy isn’t as strong as Ronan, and his weapon isn’t the same either, I’ll explain it more in the next chapter. Still an Accuser, still pretty strong though. But I want to remind everyone that he’s using the same suit that was capable of making THANOS BLEED, while he had FOUR INFINITY STONES, and also could keep up with the Black Order, and this version here is even stronger thanks to Rocket, so it’s pretty fair in my eyes. I know, I’m an Iron Man fanboy, sue me. I don’t really know where we go from now on, but I have some ideas. Also, Thanos finally makes his move. We’re basically following the movie here, so you know what happens after that, but there are a lot of changes I would like to make here, so don’t try to predict anything.  
> Later Morons!

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not exactly Pro-Accords, but I agree that the world can’t stand behind a single man’s decisions, EVEN if that man is Steve Rogers. He has shown to be biased before when it comes to Bucky, which caused Lagos and the tunnel collapsing in Germany, so I think some supervision would be good, if it made the rest of the world feel safer. The problem was that the hands they were submitting themselves to weren’t safe (cough Ross cough) and that would definitely have led them to trouble later, but Tony obviously didn’t want to work with him. He probably would have been able to take him out if everyone supported him, but that didn’t happen so... I know my opinion may be unpopular, but please don’t come harassing me in the comments or something lile that, that’s just dumb. Present your arguments politely and we can discuss it. And... yeah, that’s all. Hope you guys don’t get too blind from reading this shit. Later Morons!


End file.
